The Hunter
by dragonsaurus12
Summary: Julia and Brendan were prepared to run from home to get away from an overbearing parent since Brendan reached 16 and eligible to become a trainer. May was ready to leave with her best friends. When Luke came to Hoenn from Unova, he did not expect to be put in charge of mentoring rookies. *No beta, no editing, we die like men*
1. Chapter 1

"Julia! Come quick, one of your dad's matches is on TV, it looks like it's about to end!"

"Coming Ma!" a young woman replied, only to sit up on her bed and sigh. Standing up from the comfort of her bed, she stretched her arms above her head and arched her back, letting out her breath as she stretched and walked out of her room, toward the stairs that would take her to the living room.

Julia came down the stairs just as the battle was ending, her dark, chestnut brown hair just falling to her shoulders. Her shoulders were otherwise covered by a dark green t-shirt, going down to her hips where her black athletic shorts took over. Her younger brother, Brendan, was watching the battle with enthusiasm, cheering along with the crowd in Petelburg, his white hair-like hat having been shaken just enough to see the black hair underneath, his sky-blue long-sleeved t-shirt covered in the crumbs from his sandwich, his black shorts covering the top part of his legs.

The crowd noise was loud, even coming through the television. On the screen, Julia caught a glimpse of her father's Vigoroth wildly dancing over the unconscious form of a Pelipper before cutting to the announcer for the match.

"And once again, Gym Leader Norman defends the balance badge from a tier six challenger! Everybody, give it up for the normal type extraordinaire, the ever reliable Norman!" What the announcer wanted, he got in full force. It takes a pretty fantastic trainer to make it to a tier six challenge, and the crowd was pumped from the spectacle they got to witness.

Not that she really knew. Despite her father being one of the most televised leaders in the region, Julia rarely ever watched his matches over air. If she wasn't allowed to see them in person, what made the screen any better?

That was changing soon though. She would finally be allowed to start her journey with Brendan and their friend May. Two years late, but it was finally happening. There had always been a reason. Her father's application to become a gym leader was in the works ever since they lived in Johto two years ago, then the incident in Unova a year ago made her parents paranoid about her setting off on her own.

Instead, she had been forced to wait for her brother and her friend to turn sixteen and become eligible for trainer's licenses. She didn't mind the thought at first, especially since it meant that she wouldn't have to journey by herself, but over the last year she felt more and more trapped in her house. Julia made her way to the door, deciding to check on what May was doing next door.

Brendan managed to tear his gaze away from the TV long enough to see his sister heading for the door. "Where you headed sis?" he asked, craning his neck over the back of the couch, his short black hair brushing against the top of the furniture.

"I'm too bored and nervous to sit in the house any longer, I'm going to check on May. You want to come?" she responded, opening the door and beginning to step out, but turning back to look at her brother. He pushed off the couch and grabbed his hat before replying.

"Of course, the match is over, I've got nothing else to do."

Julia shrugged as they made their way to May Birch's house, both standing at 5'7", and could not resist throwing a barb at her sibling "Sure, that's the reason, definitely wouldn't have to do with actually wanting to see her."

Brendan just huffed as they walked the short distance.

* * *

Luke had no intention of doing anything today other than meeting with Professor Birch to get a trainer's license for Hoenn. Sure, he had his passport and old ID, but those would hardly be enough here.

And that is what led to him standing outside the lab, leaning against the building. A couple of teens about his age walked by, but they paid him no mind. He would have done the same, but he couldn't shake the vague feeling of recognition the two gave him.

After about an hour of waiting, he got bored and decided to take a hike around the small town so reminiscent of his own hometown. He heard the scream when he was at the northern side of town.

"Always has to be something going on around me, doesn't there?" he muttered as he pushed off the wall, running in the direction of the scream, his light brown hair becoming obscured as he put on his blue and black ball-cap. The navy-blue jacket he was wearing seemed to get just a bit tighter in the heat.

Luke ran past a neighborhood and saw quite the scene when he exited the town. In the middle of a field, a fairly large man with dark brown hair was cowering in a tree with a litter of Zigzagoons running around the base, barking up at him.

"You there!" the treed man shouted to Luke, "Help me! My bag is right over there, you can use one of the pokemon!" The man gestured from his perch to a leather bag. On the other side of the tree. Luke sighed before running across the field.

Once the rodents saw Luke, they immediately began chasing him. Luke expected the rodents to be zippy, but they were gaining on him faster than he expected. _If they knew how to run in a straight line,_ Luke thought, _they would have caught me before I got his bag_.

When he got to the bag, instead of reaching inside like the man had asked, Luke grabbed it by its strap and flung it back towards the man, landing just a couple feet short.

"Go!" Luke shouted as the miniature racoon army backed him up away from the forest, "I'll take care of myself!"

Instead of running the man began frantically digging around his knapsack as three teens came up behind him.

* * *

Julia, Brendan, and a girl wearing a collared red shirt and dark blue spandex shorts with a red bandana covering her brown hair arrived just in time to see a boy about their age book it across the field and sling Professor Birch's bag back to him. The teen on the other side of the field was backing away from a horde of Zigzagoon, slowly reaching toward his hip pack. Something about him seemed just barely familiar.

The girl with the bandana walked up to the professor and tapped his shoulder quietly. When he turned around, he was quite surprised to see his daughter and her friends standing there. That is when Professor Birch got the idea.

"May! With Julia and Brendan! I was going to wait until you all were about to set off, but now's an even better time!" he said loud enough for the wild pokemon to notice, a couple of them turning around to face the professor. Birch paid them no mind as he opened his bag to the trio, saying, "Go on, each of you pick one, then go help him. May, you get your pokemon ready too."

Three of the five Zigzagoons started to move toward the group, as Luke's hand finally made it to his pouch, fishing out a nest ball. Julia, May, and Brendan all took a pokeball from Birch's bag, and pulled back to throw.

Luke was the first to act, tossing his pokeball and calling out "Rebecca, I could use some help!"

May moved second, throwing her pokeball, saying "Torchic, let's go."

Julia and Brendan moved simultaneously, throwing their balls forward wordlessly. A little blue mudfish appearing in front of Julia and a bipedal gecko standing in front of Brendan. A small orange chick materialized beside May, and Luke had summoned his own gecko. After the crack and flash of the teens bringing out their pokemon, there was a small silence where the pokemon sized up their competition.

"Rebecca, pound the left one," Luke called out, breaking the pause, "I'll keep the other one occupied."

"Torchic, use scratch!" May ordered, pointing her finger at the closest Zigzagoon.

"Uh, use pound?" Brendan said, looking at Professor Birch, "How am I supposed to know what it can do?"

Julia was having similar issues, just telling her little blue pokemon to keep dodging as she searched the internet for pokemon moves. It would help if she actually knew what pokemon she had.

"Hey!" Luke shouted over to the obvious rookies as he outmaneuvered one Zigzagoon so his pokemon wouldn't be in a 2v1, "those two are a Treeko and a Mudkip, they should only know normal type moves right now, like pound, tackle, and scratch, try using those!"

"Oh, um, thanks" Julia mumbled, before regaining her composure to shout "Mudkip, use tackle!"

"Treeko, do your thing and…pound?" Brendan almost questioned his pokemon. Actually dictating what to do to his pokemon felt so different than when he saw it on TV. Most of the trainers that were deemed worthy of having their matches aired on the television were skilled enough that they only had to command their pokemon once or twice in a battle, sometimes more to be dramatic than for actual practicality.

He felt silly telling his pokemon to do something so simple as use pound or absorb. Or having to shout at it to dodge. But he couldn't deny the giddy feeling welling up in his gut. Simply being there with a pokemon- his pokemon- gave him a rush like nothing else. He could hear his blood pumping as he became engrossed in his first battle. _This_, he thought, _this is what it means to be a trainer, a battler_.

Luke cast a glance at Rebecca as he dodged the raccoon again. To his surprise, his Treecko was struggling without constant commands. _Right_, _she isn't _actually_ trained yet. That'll be the first thing we work on_, he thought. Until a ball of brown and cream fur slammed into his midsection, knocking him to the ground, forcing the air out of his lungs.

The Zigzagoon had him on the ground and was ready to tear into his squishy bits, but Luke didn't feel like being some raccoon horde's lunch. Instead, he shot a glance to see if any of the people were paying attention to him. The teens were all absorbed in their own battles, and the professor as the kids called him was entranced by the first battles the kids were having. Actually, he was more than entranced, he was filming instead of helping.

Knowing now that he wasn't being watched, he grabbed the raccoon by the tail and slammed his forehead into its nose before slinging it into the woods. He heard it land, and then heard its retreating paws. Then he heard a yelp, as Rebecca slammed her tail into her foe and knocked it unconscious.

Putting a hand on his forehead as the pain from the headbutt set in, Luke glanced around the field. One by one, the rest of the Zigzagoon were driven away. The boy was the first to finish off his opponent, followed by the girl in the red bandana, then the vaguely familiar one. Luke pulled Rebecca's nest ball out, then decided against returning her. She deserved some free time from her ball, she'd been cooped up for the entire trip here.

* * *

Julia looked up just in time to see him slip the ball back into his pocket as she returned Mudkip to its ball. She watched as he kneeled next to his green pokemon and pet its head. He looked like he might be an inch or two taller than her, and seemed to be fairly fit, especially if his run across the field a minute ago was anything to go by. It was hard to tell from the distance, but he seemed like he could be a couple years older than her, and fairly attractive to boot. Although the last bit was probably just because the only males she hung out with were her brother, Professor Birch, and May's kid brother Max. Then she noticed May's eyes flicking between her and the stranger. Then she noticed the growing smile on May's face.

She started to go red as she approached May, grabbing her by the shoulder to walk a few yards off. "I know what you're thinking. The answer is no." Julia said to May with a quiet intensity. The eighteen-year-old did not need this coming from the younger woman so soon before the start of their journey. She would never hear the end of it.

May just kept smiling, poking Julia in the side. "Julia's got a crush, Julia's got a crush" she sing-songed quietly.

Julia raised an eyebrow before walking back towards the rest of the group, shaking her head. _Even if I did, it wouldn't _matter, she thought, _May, Brendan and I are about to leave anyway, if he's here to stay, then we would only see him when we visit. If he's about to journey, then we probably won't cross paths much. Either way, I'll just endure the teasing for now_.

Luke, having taken care of Rebecca, approached the Professor. "Hey, I overheard them call you professor, would you by any chance be Professor Birch?" Luke inquired, sliding his hands out of his pockets.

The portly professor smiled, straightened his back, and reached out a hand for Luke to shake. "I am, and I assume you aren't from around here at all, since pretty much all of the Hoenn trainers would recognize me."

Luke reached out and clasped the professor's hand, giving it a firm shake before replying, "Fantastic, and you're right, I'm from quite a ways off. My name is Luke by the way, Luke Williams."

Letting go of the younger man's hand, the professor turned to the side and spoke to the group, "Well Luke, after all the excitement we went through today, how would you like to head back to my lab with the rest of us? I need to do some paperwork for these three to be able to legally own their new pokemon."

"Speaking of," Luke said, "I could use some help with that too. Professor Juniper said that you could help with getting me a Hoenn license?"

* * *

After giving the professor the information he would need for getting him the permit to train, Luke sat with the other teens and waited. It was a bit awkward, almost like he was intruding on the three of them. _Cripes_, Luke thought, _this is uncomfortable_.

"So," Luke began, and immediately the other three sets of eyes were on him, "You guys are all first-time trainers now?"

The three shot glances at one another, before the boy answered, "I mean, we're about to be, as soon as we get our trainer cards. What about you?"

Luke shrugged and leaned back into the couch. "I started my training a couple years ago in another region. Made a pretty good run at the league circuit. Took a little time off, didn't know what to do next, friend recommended I try a new region, new team, new adventure. Got an egg that turned out to be Rebecca," he said with a distant look in his eyes, patting the pocket with his nest balled Treecko before continuing, "and now I'm here before my window to get certified to train and journey throughout the region closes."

Brendan and May began asking questions fast as a bullet seed, all relating to the newcomer's experiences and pokemon. Julia narrowed her eyes and realized they forgot to ask one of the simpler questions.

"Not to interrupt your questions or anything" Julia said to the two sixteen-year-olds, "but we forgot to do the whole introduction thing."

May's flushed face and flapping mouth made it seem as though she was doing her best Magikarp impersonation, while Brendan just seemed to shrink back into his seat. Julia turned from the pair to Luke, who wore a sheepish grin. "So," she said, turning to the young man, "Any chance we could get a name?"

His grin turned into a shallow laugh as he scratched the back of his head. "My bad, I'm still used to other trainers not really caring about my name, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Luke Williams, Unovan trainer but native to Kanto." On saying this he stood up and took a slender black case out of the top flap of his backpack, opening it to show the rookies eight gym badges, offering them to the three to look at. Brendan snatched the badges out of his hand as Luke continued, "Like I said, I had a pretty successful run in the league circuit. Couldn't have made it without my friends."

"Wait, if you were strong enough to get to the elite four, where are all of your pokemon?" Julia asked as she glanced at the badges. It was quite impressive that the man in front of her managed to collect all eight badges within two years. But the badges weren't shiny or glossy like she had seen her father hand out on television. All but one of them seemed matte, absorbing the light instead of reflecting it, as though the gloss had been rubbed off and he hadn't bothered to polish them since.

Luke shrugged, taking the question in stride. "My old team is split with a couple professors. They aren't entirely retired, but they deserve the rest that they're getting. I pushed pretty hard the last four, five months I was out."

"What was your team when you were going to challenge the four?" Brendan asked as Julia handed him back the badges. Brendan's eyes never left the badges, the hallowed symbols of a powerful trainer. To become strong enough to challenge the gym leaders, to challenge his father. Brendan saw what he wanted. He just didn't know how to get there yet.

Luke visibly flinched. "Let's call that a touchy subject and change topics. Why do you guys want to be trainers?"

"I'm going to be the strongest trainer and conquer the league, becoming the champion!" Brendan replies before adding "I also want to beat my dad for a gym badge, to prove to him how strong I've gotten."

May shrugged, "I'm really just going on an adventure to help my dad with his research, and to have fun with Brendan and Julia while I'm at it."

Julia was caught off guard by both Luke's response and question, wondering what happened to make such an incredible moment for most trainers tainted for him. When she noticed everybody else looking at her, she offered a little shrug, saying "I don't really have a dream or goal. I just want to get out of town and live my life in my own way."

"I mean, that honestly seems like the best reason. You're journeying for you." Luke said to Julia before laughing and addressing the group. "They're all better than why I started though."

"Oh really?" Julia asked, "No grand aspirations of conquering your league back home? No desire to become the strongest?"

"Nope."

"Then why did you go on your adventure?"

"My friends back home made me."

Julia, Brendan, and May were all stunned silent by such a simple answer. "If you only journeyed because your friends made you, why did you bother with the gym circuit?" Brendan asked, completely confused. "Especially if you made it all the way to the Elite Four?"

Julia narrowed her eyes at Luke. She didn't ask the question, but it was stirring in her head. Why would someone go that far in the challenge if it wasn't his dream? Nothing about this guy made sense, and she wanted to find out what he was all about.

In response, Luke shrugged. "At first all of my friends did it, so I did it too. Then-"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand they're finished!" Professor Birch exclaimed as he returned to the lobby of his lab, holding out four green plastic cards, handing one to each of the teens without looking.

Luke looked down at his card and raised an eyebrow when he saw the name Julia Carols on the card, age 18. "Um, professor? As much as I would like to be a Hoenn native, I kind of need my own card to legally train and challenge the circuit here."

He offered the card to Julia, who quickly gave him his own card, "Also, I didn't realize you're eighteen too. Why are you starting so late?"

The look she shot him would have stopped a pack of Mightyena. "Not all of us have friends to drag us off with them."

The room got quiet as Luke raised his hands in a placating gesture. "Alright, no need to get upset about it. Tell you what" he said as he placed his new trainer card in his wallet. "Why don't we all head back to that field just outside of town so you guys can have your first real pokemon battles?"

"What do you mean 'first pokemon battles?'" Brendan asked with a frown, "You were there when we fought off those Zigzagoons."

Shrugging Luke responded, "That was battling against a low powered wild pokemon. The feeling of battling against another trainer, especially the first one, is a completely different feeling, one that you won't be able to forget if you tried."

Before Brendan could respond again, Professor Birch cut in, "That sounds like a fantastic idea! But May, I need your help for a moment, someone just called from Oldale Town, I need you to go to Route 103, some flash of a blue pokemon passed through and I'd like you to investigate…"

* * *

/AN/ So, that was chapter 1. Drop a review, let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is welcomed (although I can't promise how well I'll be able to implement it), flames will be ignored, and compliments are as welcome as they are unexpected. Apologies for the errors I've undoubtedly left in and the inconsistency I'm prone to, the first few chapters are based on notes that I made a couple years ago, with some random paragraphs and ideas written out. Not an excuse for my sloppy writing though. This fic is what I've started doing when I just need to destress and step away from work and school, and because of those two important things, there will be no real schedule here.  
Onto the Pokemon notes then. First of all, I absolutely stink at writing battle scenes. Apologies in advance for the sloppiness that will happen when I try to write them. Secondly, what even is a Pokemon level? They're in the games for obvious reasons, in the manga to help us gauge power, and not present at all in the anime. Red's Snor is a higher level than Dia's Regigigas. Is Snor more powerful than the legendary? Maybe, it is Red after all. Regardless, levels will not be present in the fic itself. Dex's will be able to gauge approximate strength but they'll be fooled just as easily as a human would be. In the story I'll be playing fast and loose with some of the rules. In the game The Rules are locked in.

Because this is a Nuzlocke. Actually, it's two of them on top of each other in a trench coat. My friend Kate ran the Locke for Julia and I did Luke's. She doesn't have any part in the writing of the story, just the data for Julia's character and Pokemon.

**LOCKE****RULES:**

Catch the first pokemon you encounter on each route once pokeballs are obtained. Allowed to mulligan until you encounter a species that you have not logged into the pokedex yet.

Nickname all pokemon. Each region for me tends to have a different theme. Sometimes it's alliteration, sometimes it's Nintendo characters, sometimes I make sounds with my mouth until I've mashed enough syllables together to make a 'name.' This rule has no real purpose except to make me get attached to my pokemon before the next rule.

If a pokemon faints, it is dead. It must be boxed or released immediately upon reaching the next pokemon center.

Battle Style turned to Set, because why the other trainer wouldn't tell you what they're about to send out to give you a chance to switch.

I can only use as many items as the opponent trainer does in battle, and I can not use the first item. Hold items are exempt from this clause.

No running from wild pokemon unless they are at least five levels weaker than the pokemon at the head of my party, and no repels. Was originally no running from wilds at all, changed after the third gym. Because I respect and rely on being over-leveled in a Locke, but it's just the law of diminishing returns.


	2. Chapter 2

Luke couldn't take his eyes off the girl as she and her brother duked it out in a (very) basic trainer battle. Her presence just seemed to vibe in a way that others, like Brendan and May's, just didn't.

The crazy thing was, there wasn't really anything extraordinary or stand out about her. She was average height, just an inch or so shorter than him. Her hair was a darker brown than his but that wasn't unusual, some photographs almost made him look blonde, while her hair was closer to black. Maybe a bit more athletic than most girls their age?

At the last thought, Luke managed to tear his eyes away to look at the sky. The other girls he knew weren't exactly paragons of normality. In anything. He allowed himself a small smirk as he reminisced.

That's when he noticed the sounds coming from the diminutive battle had stopped. His smile fell away as he shook his head clear of his thoughts to look at the results. Brendan was breathless from the adrenaline rush that the battle gave him. Julia…didn't look all that different. Even though her mudfish was standing over the unconscious gecko and she was clearly victorious, she didn't really react to winning. It probably would have been the same reaction if she lost.

_Huh_, Luke thought, _guess battles just aren't for her_?

"Alright, guys not bad for a first battle. Although," Luke said as he scratched the back of his neck, "maybe I should have given you guys an example battle first, since May has had her Torchic for a little while."

Julia shrugged in response. "She has never really been a battler, more often than not she just helps the professor with field research."

"Yeah, she's pretty much always been against battling except for when she needs to," Brendan added, "especially if she'd be facing someone as experienced as you."

Luke shook his head with a small amount of disbelief. "I've never really been able to understand the non-battlers. I've met my fair share and I respect the hell out of a lot of the one's I've met, but it just doesn't make sense to me."

Rebecca chose this moment to pop out of her pokeball and climb onto Luke's shoulder, chirping happily when she received affectionate scratches. "But like I mentioned before, at one point I didn't really care about pokemon in general, much less battling. But then once I started, well…" Luke trailed off, smiling from his thoughts before continuing, "I just couldn't stop."

Not paying attention to what the more experienced trainer was saying, Julia simply kneeled beside her Mudkip to pet and congratulate it.

"Now that I think about it," she mumbled softly to the finned pokemon, "you should have a name besides your species. The only problem is, I have no idea what to name you."

The blue amphibian just stared back at her with large black eyes as if asking what she could possibly mean. Their eyes locked as the pokemon and trainer looked into one another's eyes.

Brendan saw the interaction between the two and opened his mouth to ask Luke what was happening. Before he could utter a syllable, he was halted by the older teen's raised palm, silencing him.

The stare-down continued for several minutes before Julia smiled, and said solftly, "Oliver. That's your name."

Feeling the eyes of the two other trainers, Julia looked up to see Luke staring at her intently. His gaze made her uncomfortable, almost like he was seeing through her. She returned his stare, trying to comprehend why he would be looking at her so intensely.

Luke suddenly broke the stare, muttering something about a bell before turning around and waving for the two others to follow him. "C'mon, let's head back to the lab, I need to grab my pack and put my hammock away."

The two rookies shared a quick look, silently asking each other what the heck just happened before following him.

The trio made a quick stop at the tree line on the west side of town for Luke to grab his stuff. His 'campsite' consisted of only a hammock with a rainfly and a small portable stove. It barely looked like a campsite, more of a place three things happened to be placed.

Luke struck his camp with practiced ease and efficiency. Slipping the stove into the bottom section of his bag and bundling the hammock in the fly after making sure there was no remaining condensation to tuck it into the main pocket.

Once Luke was ready, the trio set off for the professor's lab. On the way Luke took off his jacket and tied it around his waist, revealing a blocky symbol composed of two letters on his t-shirt: BW.

Feeling like he could finally breath again, Luke turned to the other two and asked "How do you guys live in a place this hot?

* * *

A woman who looked to be in her forties was in a heated argument with Professor Birch. Luke couldn't tell if she was trying to demand or plead for something.

Either way, Luke continued to walk towards the professor casually when he noticed Julia and Brendan weren't walking beside him anymore. He turned back to look at them and saw the two had gone white as a sheet. That's when he actually started listening to what the woman was saying.

"How could you Birch! They weren't supposed to go yet! Brendan isn't ready to be a trainer and it isn't safe for Julia out there, you know what's happened to her!" the woman shouted at the professor.

The professor in turn had his hands raised in a placating gesture in an attempt to calm the woman. His eyes brightened when he saw the trio: he could get out of this with his soul intact if he could just shift Caroline's attention…

She was already ahead of him, seeing the lights in the man's eyes brighten instead of dimming further. She whirled around to continue her verbal assault. "And you!" she shouted at Luke before her face contorted in confusion, her fury being suppressed by confusion, "Who are you? Do I know you from somewhere?"

Luke was scared of this woman and her quickly changing emotions. It didn't make sense to him that someone would go from that mad to this curious so quickly. It was like a raging Tauros or Buffolant suddenly calming down.

Swallowing his unease, Luke decided to answer so that he might avoid her anger. "My name is Lucas Williams, I'm a pokemon trainer from Unova. I came here to get a fresh start and perspective on my journey."

Caroline's lips pursed. "Unova? We took a vacation there last year. Which…" she said, whirling back to Birch, "is exactly my point! Julia could have died if that trainer hadn't saved her from that bird! What's to say that she won't be attacked like that again?!"

Luke's eyes went wide for a second before slapping his hand over his face and grumbling something that sounded like 'no wonder' before Birch again tried to calm down Mrs. Carols.

"Caroline, please, that's why she needs to go, so that she can protect herself from threats, both pokemon and otherwise. Besides, we don't have any bird pokemon as big as the Braviary that live in Unova here in Hoenn."

As Mrs. Carols turned her attention back to scolding the professor, Luke took the opportunity to quietly shake his head before reaching into his pocket and letting Rebecca out of her ball.

The two adults turned to the eighteen-year-old when they heard the crack of a pokeball opening, watching the Treecko curl into a ball on Luke's shoulder. "Look, I don't claim to be a real expert at training, or that I'm a master trainer or anything like that." Luke started, glancing back to Julia and Brendan before fully focusing on their mother and continuing, "But I've been a trainer for a couple of years now, and an outdoorsman for far longer, and would like to think that I at least have most of the basics down. I don't know how much it would mean to you or even if they would agree, but I would be willing to travel with them for at least the first few weeks of their journey, make sure that everything goes smoothly. If it doesn't I'll be there to lend an extra pokemon to help, or lend my experience if it's applicable."

Noticing that Mrs. Carols was preparing to interject, Luke held his hands in front of him, saying, "I'm not saying that I would hold their hands and be their bodyguard or anything like that. I'm just offering to help them out until they understand and can take care of themselves. As dangerous as it can be out there, don't they deserve to live their life their own way?"

Luke's comment gave Mrs. Carols pause. Sure, her kids should have every opportunity to succeed, but why did it have to come at the cost of their safety?

When the mother did not reply, Luke turned to look at the two other teens, met their scared eyes, and shrugged. He had no idea if what he was doing would work, or if it could make the woman flip out on him the way she did to the professor. Luke gave one final thumbs-up to them before turning back to their mother, still ruminating.

Julia couldn't believe what she was seeing. Luke was trying to talk her mother into letting her leave on her adventure. Even less believable was that it was _working_. True, the young man fed her almost what she wanted to hear; that he was an experienced trainer and camper and would be willing to look out for her and Brendan.

She snapped out of her thoughts when Luke gave them the thumbs-up, and she shook her head as he turned back around. It was never this easy to make her mother concede a point. Yet here they were.

Her mother finally turned back to Luke, who Julia noticed was composed fairly well. "I don't like this, and I don't think I ever will." She started, and Julia and Brendan perked up, until she continued to Luke, "But I need you to promise me that you'll take care of them until they can do it themselves. They aren't ready for this."

Julia felt the heat rise in her face when her mother called her incompetent and unprepared so blatantly. "What do y-

As soon as she opened her mouth to say something to her mother, Luke held up a hand to stop her , and interrupted her by saying, "I promise to look after them for a while, but it'll be up to them to determine when they've learned enough to set out." He pulled his left arm in front of him, displaying what appeared to be a watch of some sort, "If you'd like, I could register you in my X-Transceiver to give you updates every so often?"

Julia and her two present family members all looked at the device with interest. Brendan was nodding to himself and her mother was looking at it with uncontained interest. Julia was just bewildered. "What's an X-Transceiver?"

Luke turned back to her with a blank look on his face before raising his left hand to eye level and pointing at the device on his wrist.

"It's a communication device. Capable of text and audio communication, and video if the other side is in range." He explained before tapping on it a few times, pressing a button of the side as the screen lit up. "See? Here are my contacts. All six of them."

"So it's a less functional pokegear?" Julia responded, not bothering to look at the short list. "And who only has six contacts?"

Luke shrugged in response. "I didn't really have all that many friends back home, and I needed to use a stationary phone for distance calls, and I can't exactly have contacts on one of those."

Luke then looked from Julia's pokegear to her mother before saying "Oh, wait, you can just go straight to her instead of going through me. Nice."

Julia looked back at Brendan, who looked like he was holding his breath while their new friend discussed with their mother. Julia smiled nervously. It seemed like it was going too smoothly, her mother never gave in this easily-

"Fine, they can go. But if anything happens to them, I'll be the least of your worries." Mrs. Carols finally said, the threat looming over the group. Luke didn't seem fazed, but determined instead.

"Of course." Luke responded, nodding his head.

The siblings couldn't believe what they were seeing. Their mother just consented to the two of them leaving, albeit with a heavy threat. And having extracted a promise that someone would keep them safe.

Luke turned back to the pair as the mother turned back to Professor Birch and let out her remaining aggression. The trio quickly excused themselves to a safe distance from the woman before Julia spun Luke around by the shoulder.

"How in the world did you manage that? Do you have experience talking women out of their children or something?" she asked him, still bewildered at the idea of someone talking her mother down.

Luke frowned while he thought in silence for a moment, then shrugged before replying "Well… Kinda? I guess I do have a bit of experience. Anyway, we should head out to get your gear."

The only response the siblings could muster was to stare at him with their jaws dropped. What kind of con artist was this man?

* * *

Julia's pile was fairly well organized, with clothes and toiletries to one side, and her gear on the other, consisting of a tent, sleeping gear, first-aid kit, flashlight, and mallet. Brendan's was not as organized, with gear sticking out from bits of the pile of clothes, although Luke was able to see that Brendan also had a tent and sleeping gear, along with a camping knife, hatchet, rope coil, and mess kit. The other difference was that Julia had more clothes ready to be packed.

Luke squinted at the piles, and then at the two teens before saying, "How do you plan to carry everything?"

Neither of them had brought a backpack to the living room. The two looked sheepishly at each other before running back to bring out backpacks, pretty much equivalent to large school bags. Luke looked between their bags and his own pack. His pack was a sturdy exterior frame backpacking pack, with his gear strapped tightly to the outside or packed securely within. Sure his pack was bigger than what he needed anymore, but he never saw a reason to get a smaller one just because he started carrying less. True, it would be more efficient, but he liked this pack. The two rookies, on the other hand…

"Those bags are really undersized for the amount of stuff you're trying to bring. And have no place to strap the tents to." Luke said as he compared the gear to the bags. "I have room in and on my pack for some things, but not this much."

As the two suddenly seemed to be looking anywhere but Luke and their stuff Luke noticed something else that had 'rookie' written all over it. He squinted a bit as he looked at their stuff harder before asking "What shoes are you bringing?"

"I've got sneakers and sandals." Julia responded before looking at Luke's feet. They were securely covered in hiking boots. She gestured to the boots before asking "Do you wear those everywhere?"

Luke looked down at his boots before shrugging and scratching the back of his head. "Not everywhere, I've got a pair of sandals for when I'm in camp and at water," he responded before feeling the need to defend his trusty footwear, "Why? What's wrong with my boots?"

"Nothing, it just seems uncomfortable to wear boots all the time." Brendan piped in as he sorted through his clothes, deciding what to take and leave.

Luke spent the next hour answering general questions about traveling and his experience outdoors as he helped the siblings pack, interrupting his own stories with suggestions such as "More socks" when he saw Brendan only had three pairs packed. "Walking around in a wet shirt or shorts is bad, but wet socks and shoes are unbearable."

"Why don't you show us what you have packed?" Julia asked Luke, "So we can get a feel for what we should go for?"

Luke shrugged as he picked up his pack and opened it. As spacious as it was, Luke didn't have very much of it filled. Inside seemed to be two other sets of almost identical clothing to what he had on: jeans and a black and white t-shirt with the same BW logo, with five extra pairs of socks, plus a pair of sandals, swimming trunks, towel, light blanket, and the cap of a sports team they didn't recognize only filled up only half of the top section. Luke's toiletries, a small stove and propane tank, nylon braided cord, hammock with straps, tent stakes, and a tarp filled the lower compartment. He continued to show them a map, notebook, compass, flashlight, lighter, and folding knife in the bag's flap pocket.

In the bags' other pockets were food, generic pokemon feed, first aid kit, some extra batteries, a couple empty collapsible water bottles, and a water filter. All in all, the bag weighed just less than 20 pounds, although it would probably reach that threshold once the bottles were filled.

The two less experienced campers quickly parsed their selections down to match the number of clothes, even going as far as to attempt the same type of mimicry in clothes as Luke had, with two almost identical outfits to what they were wearing at the moment.

After another hour or so of Luke helping the two of them pack, they finally had everything packed away. Mostly in their own bags, but as they had no room for the tents on their packs…

"Ugh," Luke grunted as he finished strapping the tents to his pack, hoisting it onto his shoulders. "Soon as we can, you two are getting actual packs. I do not plan on carrying all this for the entire journey."

That was when Mrs. Carols returned home, finding her living room in quite the state of mess. Visibly shaken and in no mood to interact with the teens, she worked her way past them into her own room on the first floor.

Luke winced once she shut herself in. "Hey, should one of you talk to her? I won't claim to be all that good at people stuff, but…"

"She's just in a funk because she doesn't think we're ready to leave yet." Brendan said, although his eyes lingered on the door. "She'll be fine once we're out."

"Speaking of," Julia cut in, "when are we leaving?"

Luke shrugged. "I'm ready whenever you guys are. Although you should at least say goodbye to her before we leave. No telling when you'll see her again."

The siblings looked at each other and nodded, knocking on the door to their mother's room. Luke took his pack and excused himself from the house, giving the family their space before looking to the sky.

"Huh. Never thought I'd be playing teacher before I turned twenty." He spoke to the tropical sky as he leaned back. "Truth be told I never thought that I would. Yet here I am."

Luke turned his eyes back to earth before sighing as he gazed around the quiet neighborhood. "I'm responsible for those kids now. I don't know why I did it, I shouldn't have, but I did."

He huffed one final sigh and said, "Well, at least I'll have company again," before going silent.

Having zoned out, Luke didn't see the professor jogging towards the house with two small parcels.

Julia and Brendan emerged from the house as Birch arrived at the door, resulting in everyone being surprised except for Luke, who still hadn't noticed.

"I'm so glad that I caught you before you left!" Birch exclaimed as he held the packages out to the pair, "These are for you! A digital Pokemon encyclopedia, or Pokedex, and five pokeballs for both of you! May is already cataloging all of the Pokemon in Hoenn for me, but these should still provide helpful information on your journey!"

Luke's head snapped up to attention when he heard the word Pokedex, looking at the packages with interest. His right hand strayed to cover his pocket. Nothing good ever came out of Pokedexes…

* * *

AN: From here on, most of the chapters will jump from event to event on the road. Not every day has something that is eventful, most of them are boring. Same thing goes for the NPC battles. Not everything that goes on is exciting, some days just pass by uneventfully. Kinda like real life.

So, real quick shout-out to 3G4N5H059 who left a review to let me know this chapter was just line after line of random text once I uploaded it. I lost most of the rant that I did against the BS of time in the Pokemon world in the AN, but I can sum it up quickly. Ash is not still 10. Kids don't leave home at 10. It should take longer than 80 days to travel Hoenn and train your pokemon to compete at the highest level in either contests or battles, despite what PokeSpe suggests, even if it was freakishly fast and record-breaking there too. It takes an average of 2.5-3 years for an average trainer to complete a gym circuit in my world between stopping to train regularly and backpacking across what is effectively a country. For the more talented/hardcore trainers, it would still take about 2 years on average. That being said, Hoenn seems to be one of the smaller regions, at least to me, since a lot of the travel is by water/boat, and as such faster than walking, although you can't really train on the open ocean, too many mishaps would happen, so Hoenn, and by extent Alola for some of the same logic, take shorter amounts of time to travel through, with the average being 2 years of training and competing.

Again, thanks to 3G4N5H059 and maycontestdrew for reviewing! Feedback is good to let me know that people are interested in this little plot bunny that spiraled into much more than I thought it would.

So, drop a review, 'cuz I'll be gone until I'm back again. Stay safe y'all.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Real quick, before we get started in my head space the type of pokeball is far more important than it is in the games. Ultraballs are not always the best option. Plus having your pokemon in different types of balls would make it easier to distinguish them, no? As such, the special balls will be more available here than they are in the games. That's why Luke's Treecko, Rebecca, was in a nest ball. Is she actually in one in the game? Of course not, she's a starter. But she is in one for the flavor and to push my head canon into my world. The flavor is important to me. Not really but I like it and it's my fic.

* * *

To say that he was relieved that he wouldn't have to teach the rookies how to camp would be an understatement. Sure they didn't pick the _best_ spots for their tents but they set them up quickly and efficiently, clearly having practiced the skill. Not as fast as Luke set up his hammock and tarp, but that was setting an incredibly high standard. Especially considering that his hammock was far easier to set up, so long as there were trees nearby.

It had been three days since they set out from Littleroot, and as attached as he had become to the way he'd been dressing, Luke knew he needed to change it. His jacket wasn't appropriate in this pseudo-tropical region, neither were his heavy-duty jeans. As much as it broke his heart to admit it, he would have to stop wearing the jacket that had almost become synonymous with who he was.

_Sounds about right_, he thought to himself, _I thought everything through except my clothes. Who could have guessed beside all of them_? He took a moment to wipe some sweat from his forehead, the heat seeming to have gathered under the bill of his cap. _I could kill for a solid breeze_.

Across the campsite Julia and Brendan were getting impatient. They had been on the road for three days and Luke had taught them nothing so far. All he'd done so far was talk at them instead of talking to them.

_Sure_, Julia thought as she fiddled with her Pokedex, the artificial light reflecting in her steel grey eyes, _he's done one training battle with both of us, but then proceeded to not explain why what he did was better or why he won. Then when Brendan and I battled it was something about how our pokemon were hesitating. Then something about the flow of battling, it just doesn't make sense. Maybe he understands it, but we sure as heck don't_.

Brendan was rolling his Treecko's pokeball in his hand as he watched the stove that was preparing the trio's dinner. _It doesn't make sense_, he reasoned, _that his Treecko would just be better than mine. According to the Pokedex, they're pretty much the same age and strength_. A frown creased his face before he shook his head. _I can figure it out on my own, and it won't matter for long. I'll get stronger than him, even stronger than my dad_.

* * *

Luke's blue eyes moved back towards the other two when he noticed that something was _off_. Not wanting to panic the rookies over nothing, he cast a suspicious glance around the camp site. Everything _seemed_ to be in order. A quick sniff and oral inhale told him there were no unusual scents or tastes on the air. Only the aroma of formerly dehydrated vegetables being turned into a soup. The tents were set. Julia was busy fiddling with her phone and Pokedex. The tall grass and bushes nearby were rustling lightly in the breeze. Brendan was supervising dinner, Luke's small camp stove struggling to keep up with the amount of water it was heating. The pair had forgotten to put his hammer back with the stake bag.

His hand crept toward Rebecca's pokeball when he figured it out. The tall grass and bushes were swaying. _No wind, but the grass is moving_, he thought to himself as his fingers closed around the orb. The teen silently squared himself to the grass, forgetting his company. _I really let myself slip, huh_?

Julia, having finished fiddling with her Pokedex, looked over to ask Brendan for an update on dinner but instead saw Luke, stock still with a hand at his belt. His blue eyes shooting a frigid glare at the shrubs at the edge of the clearing, swaying in the wind. Then, an explosion of motion.

She couldn't tell which happened first, Luke throwing his Treecko's pokeball out or the small pack of Poochyena that exploded from the bush he was glaring at, barking up a storm. She fumbled for Oliver's ball as the three of the four canines charged the newly materialized Treecko while the last one made a beeline for the food Brendan was preparing.

Brendan was much faster to react than his sister, having already had his Treecko's pokeball in his hand, as he sent it out to engage the encroaching Poochyena. "C'mon Treecko! Pound it to the ground!"

The older boy saw the ambush for exactly what it was. Most of the pack would try to deal with the biggest threat, while a small group, or in this case one, would go for the food. It made sense, except for a couple things. Luke frowned as he started moving with the battle.

The gecko and hyena began brawling as Julia finally managed to summon her Mudkip. "Oliver, help Treecko!" she called out, thinking to help her brother's Pokemon. Oliver had a different idea. The mudfish dashed toward the larger part of the pack attacking Luke's Treecko, digging one of its feet into the soft earth to fling mud at the nearest Poochyena.

Luke glanced at her and nodded as Rebecca's workload got easier. "You got this girl," he spoke softly enough that only Rebecca heard him, and she nodded in affirmation. Dashing to his right to keep a good vantage point on the fight and keep his own pokemon between himself and the pair of wilds Luke's mind worked itself into a frenzy to try and figure out why they would attack. They didn't seem to be very strong, but Luke had long ago learned not to place faith in how powerful something looked. Besides, these Poochyena were supposed to be scavengers when there wasn't a Mightyena as the alpha. Why would they attack a camp of humans? As Rebecca jumped around the little dark types, Luke spared a glance to look at Julia and Brendan.

Brendan was standing almost completely still, brown eyes trained on his pokemon as he called out commands as it wrestled with the Poochyena that had gone after the food. On the other hand, Julia was entirely passive and seemed to be more interested in watching the battle unfold than actually leading or taking part in it as her Mudkip alternated between throwing sticky globs of dirt at the canine and slamming into it in full body tackles. A surprisingly adept strategy coming from the pokemon with no input from his trainer, the mudfish seeming almost as feral as the wild canine.

A sharp yelp called Luke's attention back to his own battle as Rebecca placed her hands on either side of the canine's head and began draining its energy. _Absorb_, Luke mused, _wasn't sure if she could actually use that in battle yet. Good to know, we'll work on it later_.

As the drained Poochyena lost the strength to hold itself upright, its teammate slammed into Rebecca from behind, attempting to pin her to the ground. Rebecca immediately rolled out from the pressure before slamming into the wild, sending both to the ground. The two wrestled for physical dominance, Rebecca trying to latch on tight enough to drain the wild's energy while the Poochyena thrashed, attempting to shake her off.

"That's not working Rebecca," Luke called as he moved a bit closer to the battle and the downed Poochyena, "try hitting it with something else!"

Rebecca chirped confirmation to Luke before rearing her head back and bashing it into the canine's snout, stunning it long enough to latch on behind its head. It was only a matter of moments before the dark type dropped to the ground unconscious. _Well, that wasn't quite what I had in mind, but I guess it works if you work it_.

Seeing that his part in the battle was done, Luke retuned Rebecca with promises of scratches and snacks later and scanned the area to see how his charges were faring. Julia's Mudkip had won its bout, judging by the collapsed, Poochyena, its neck twisted in an awful angle and its fur matted with mud, grime, and blood. The fourth Poochyena was taking longer to bring down, but its strength was fading under the combined assault of the siblings' pokemon.

Luke began walking back to the rookies when he heard a low growl behind him, followed by several padded footfalls. He whirled around, instinct and trained reflexes taking over as he grabbed a pokeball out of his hip pack and threw it at the approaching threat.

Luke blinked in confusion as the wounded Poochyena was sucked into the empty ball instead of a pokemon emerging from it.

The Poochyena was so weak when it was sucked in that the ball barely shook, and after the smallest moment of struggle, the confirming _ding_ rang through the clearing. Luke just looked at the ball for a while longer before shaking his head and laughing quietly to himself.

"Well," he said as he crouched down to pick up the pokeball, "you don't exactly fit in the team I was planning to have here." Luke looked back to the rookies finishing their battle with the last wild. "But I guess you'll have to do. Besides, it seems like you don't know when to quit, and I can sympathize with that. Welcome to the team Franz."

* * *

Julia was kneeling beside the Poochyena that had fought against both Oliver and Brendan's Treecko for a time, Oliver standing beside her protectively. The canine's eyes were almost the same warm brown color as her brother's. Without a word she offered a pokeball to the pokemon barely clinging to life. It responded with terrified, pleading chocolate eyes. Julia gently pressed the capture button to its snout. The capture sound followed almost immediately after.

Brendan quietly sprayed a potion onto his Treecko as Julia made her capture and Luke walked back to the camp's center. _It doesn't make sense why they both finished quicker_, he reasoned, _Luke's was in a two on one and Julia has had her pokemon for just as long as I have_. He shook his head. _It doesn't matter. I'll outpace them, I know it. I'll be better than both of them and Dad in no time_.

Suddenly remembering his camp job, Brendan whirled back to the cooking dinner. He was saved; it looked perfect and smelled even better. Grinning, he poured the vegetable soup into the trios' bowls and set them on the log beside the stove. He sat on the grass and sipped his broth gently, careful not to burn his tongue. He gestured to the soup bowls and the grass next to him as Julia came over.

Picking up her bowl of soup, Julia carefully sat down beside her brother. The siblings watched Luke as he picked up the unconscious and dead Poochyena and took them to the edge of the clearing. He knelt beside the breathing one before carefully injecting a potion into it. The bite pokemon fled as soon as it regained consciousness.

The watching siblings were confused. Why would he waste his resources on a wild pokemon? It made no sense to them, was he not worried he would need that potion later?

Their mental questions were cut short as Luke flopped to the ground between Julia and the last bowl of soup. He sipped a bit of it before grimacing and putting it back down on the log, looking in the direction that the Poochyena fled in. Julia flushed momentarily at how close Luke was and started sipping away to distract herself.

It was weird for Julia, to suddenly be in such close proximity to someone she didn't know. Sure, before her family moved to Littleroot they had lived in a big city in Johto that was filled with strangers. But she never interacted with them. Or anyone really other than her family and classmates. She was snapped from her thoughts when Luke started speaking.

"You both need to work on how you battle." Julia and Brendan's eyes snapped to Luke who was still looking into the forest. "It isn't good to be on the passive or controlling extremes."

The siblings looked to each other before turning questioning glances at the senior trainer. Luke sighed before continuing.

"If you're too passive, you surrender control of the battle to the wills of the pokemon, and either side can end up going too far, which can put both of you in danger." He said, motioning in the direction of the hyena's corpse. "Your Mudkip is a ruthless fighter, no two ways about it. He initiated combat as soon as he saw pokemon that he wasn't familiar with and used a complex strategy, for a borderline untrained pokemon, to defeat it. But he didn't stop there, he killed it, and would have in a battle with another trainer too. It isn't his fault, just how he is. He probably would have killed the last Poochyena if one of you hadn't caught it. Aggressive pokemon are fine. It's when they aren't reigned in that they become dangerous, and you're being too passive with him."

Julia flushed again at the critique, bowing her head even closer to her soup, chestnut hair almost dipping into her bowl. She had guessed that Oliver had aggressive tendencies from how eager he always seemed to battle. The part she didn't understand was how dangerous it apparently was. She opened her mouth to respond, but Luke cut her off as he addressed the other extreme.

"And you, Brendan, are too passive. Your Treecko is already being conditioned to only act when you give orders. Micromanaging your pokemon is just as dangerous, for you as well as them. You're conditioning them that they don't need to think. All they need to do is listen to you. It'll seem to work for now, but what about double battles? Are you going to be able to manage both pokemon and coordinate them fighting both opponents? Pokemon are natural fighters, they have instincts that we don't. The conditioning that you are putting your Treecko through is causing it to fight its instincts and reactions. The hesitation this causes could end up killing him, or you, depending on the scenario."

Julia looked to Brendan as his face paled as he began to stir his soup. She reached an arm up to give her brother a side-hug before glaring at Luke. Sure, what he said had merit, but that didn't give him an excuse to lash out at the two of them. They were rookies, not even a week out from their journey beginning. Hell, _he_ was supposed to be teaching them! As she opened her mouth to say something back, Luke managed to cut her off again.

"I don't blame either of you." Blue eyes were screwed shut as he dug the heels of his hands into his forehead. Luke sighed again when he saw the faces of the pair.

"Look, I wanted you guys to be able to figure it out and think for yourselves, it's an important step in being a trainer, especially if you want to pursue battling. \ Or, well, at least it was for me." Luke suddenly realized an important question that he should have asked much earlier. "Um, you guys do want to battle, right? Compete in the league?"

Brendan nodded vigorously. Julia shrugged.

"I was planning on it, but I don't care much." She said, her focus shifting between Luke and her pokeballs. "I'm doing this to get out of Littleroot and see the rest of Hoenn."

Luke nodded once before leaning back onto the ground, staring at the sky. The others, sensing the conversation was over, started cleaning the bowls they had used for dinner.

Every so often Julia would look over to Luke, who was staring up at the sky with a defeated look on his face, eyebrows drawn close together and lips slightly ajar. Once night had fallen and just before she entered her tent to sleep, she looked to Luke one last time to see him rolling his shrunken pokeballs in the palm of his hand. His face was different; it was hard to make it out in the low light, but he had seemed defeated, almost hopeless before. Now, he looked either angry or upset.

She said nothing as she crawled into her single fit tent, curled up in her sleeping bag and fiddled with her Pokedex for half an hour or so before falling asleep.

* * *

Luke allowed his mind to wander in a way that was normal for the last few days but had almost never done before that. One tangent led to another as he stared up at the stars, never giving any one thought any real focus, until a sudden realization brought his mind into focus.

"The stars are different here." He whispered to the air, realizing that he didn't recognize the constellations that spread across the clear night sky. Luke felt lost and had a sudden craving for familiarity, to touch or see something of home.

He checked his communicator. Not a strong enough connection to call all the way back to Unova. So instead he stood up for the first time in several hours, and walked past his hammock, into the woods.

The teen walked for about twenty minutes before stopping, and cautiously scanning the area. The local bug types were active, and Luke's ears were filled with the sound of chirping bugs. He couldn't hear or see any trace of another person, and he was about two thirds of a mile from the camp site. Good.

He silently drew Rebecca and Franz's pokeballs from his hip pack before drawing two more balls from a hidden compartment on the inside of the strap: a dusk ball and a net ball.

These two showed hard use in harsh conditions. Their paint was chipped, scratches covered the surfaces, and the bright colors had faded to more muted shades. Luke tossed all four into the woods in front of him.

"Gojira, Heracles, meet Rebecca and Franz."

The local bug types were silenced by a roar that shook the forest.

* * *

AN: I know, different style than the first two had. I'm playing around and trying to figure out how I want to write this, since at the moment it's just me throwing words at the page to decompress from work and school. I know it's clunky, and all the characters sound pretty similar for now. I'm working on it? I guess? Lol

As for the characters, I know Luke seems kinda Gary Stu at the moment. He's a trainer with two years' experience, and the only comparison is with rookies right now. As for him seeming like as asshole, well, he doesn't know what to do with Julia and Brendan. He figured stuff out on his own and doesn't know how to interact with them. Also he kind of is an ass. He's just occasionally varying degrees of good at hiding it.

Being real, I do not know how to write battles. Then I have to figure out how to make the three stand out from each other in battles beyond their pokemon and I'm just kinda struggling here.

Remember, feedback is important to let me know people are riding this trainwreck with me, so go for it and drop a review, I promise I haven't figured out how to bite using the internet as a proxy.

Anyway, I'll be gone until I'm back again. Stay safe y'all.


	4. Chapter 4

The trio met back up with May when they passed through Oldale Town the next week. Luke took the opportunity to buy a navy blue vest to wear in place of his jacket, which was in turn tucked into his bag. His arms and legs incredibly pale compared to his face and hands.

The quartet only stayed in Oldale for one full day. Luke showed and explained what to look for and buy when shopping for supplies, namely food and pokeballs, with all four buying a few extra pokeballs of different types. [AN: No, they are just normal pokeballs. The flavor, remember?]

Julia and Brendan also realized how important the boots Luke was wearing were. Their feet had started to blister from the amount of walking they had done, and their sneakers just didn't offer the support that they would need. Luke cautioned them that the boots wouldn't really help until they were broken in but admitted that they would need the boots in the long run. The four went out and had Brendan and Julia sized and fitted for sturdy hiking boots, colored brown and black respectively.

Boots bought and supplies restocked, the four left the diminutive town, heading west towards Petalburg City.

Well, at least they would have if Brendan got his way. He was eager to see his father, maybe even challenge him. Ever since the Poochyena attack a week ago, Luke had actually started to help train him and his sister, both in terms of practice battles and actual digestible tips and critiques instead of odd bits of battle philosophy. Turns out, part of said training was a detour to the north onto route 103.

Luke claimed it was to give them some more time to get ready for the gyms coming up in Petalburg and Rustboro Cities, but with Julia not really caring about the circuit, Brendan figured that the senior trainer was just slowing down the journey so that it didn't seem like the entire focus was on getting ready for the circuit. Which Brendan was fine with per se, but it felt like Luke was actively putting a detour on Brendan's goal. The other parts of the training were downright strange and nonsensical.

The training was far from what Brendan expected it to be. In fact, it almost seemed easy when Luke told them what the three would be doing each day. It got hard when they actually had to do it. Truth be told, Brendan had no idea why they were doing some of the things, like snapping their fingers when Luke stepped on a fallen branch, or simply having their pokemon out to _talk_ to them? The blue-eyed teen claimed it would help build a bond of trust and respect with their pokemon, but his Treecko already trusted him, as a pokemon should trust its trainer. What more was there?

Especially when Julia wasn't very good at talking to her pokemon. Either of them. She would just look at them and say their nicknames while Brendan awkwardly stumbled through talking to his Treecko. For some reason Luke praised a connection between Julia and her Oliver and Chocolate despite her not actually talking to them. She was just looking, smiling every so often. Again. It made. No. Sense.

Luke walked at the front of the group most of the time, and he always had one of his pokemon out of their ball. His Treecko would curl up on his shoulder or backpack, and his Poochyena ran around and between the trio. Neither of them seemed at all interested in what was happening outside the bubble that seemed to form around the trainer and his pokemon until Luke called their names.

Another weird thing his 'teacher' did? He gave his pokemon names, but never seemed to call them by name. He usually called them 'homie,' or 'buddy,' or whatever else popped into his head and out his mouth. Sometimes he would call them by shortened versions of their nicknames, like 'Becca' or 'Fur.' At least, Brendan thought that 'Fur' was short for 'Franz' and not just Luke calling the pokemon hairy.

Luke had also been having the trio battle every wild pokemon that they came across. This Brendan could understand. This, Brendan could get behind.

Brendan was getting ready to do the league circuit, which meant a lot of battling coming up. How do pokemon get better at battling? Same way as anything else. Practice and repetition. Luke and Julia had to balance the battling practice between two pokemon each, but Brendan got to focus entirely on his Treecko, and it was-

Brendan and his sister snapped their fingers when the two heard a branch break in the clearing ahead of them, the afternoon sun bearing down on the quartet. May shot a weird look at him, her Torchic happily running between her legs and cheeping. Luke was still ahead of the rookie trio, but slowed to a stop, his Treecko going from happily curled up on her owner's backpack to being on all fours in front of him. Brendan assumed that the chirping sounds it was making were supposed to be intimidating, but it was hard for the gecko to really be all that frightening standing just under two feet when on its hind legs.

Brendan recognized what was happening. Luke had sensed out a wild, somehow. It was another thing that made no sense. The older boy seemed to have some kind of sixth sense for finding wild pokemon. The confusion got worse when Luke reached a hand back to his hip pack to pull out his Poochyena's pokeball. The older teen had never needed to use more than one of his pokemon on a wild while Brendan and Julia had been with him. Why start now?

The gecko that had been crawling beside Brendan also moved forward in front of his trainer, preparing to attack. To be honest, Brendan wasn't sure why Luke was about to send out his other pokemon. After all, it was the younger boy's turn to battle the wild.

_And this time, I'm going to catch it_, Brendan thought, _and catch back up with Luke and Julia. Treecko getting stronger is important, but he won't be able to do everything. I need to start building a team, one that'll be strong enough to beat anyone_.

Just then, a flap of wings and a rustling branch alerted Brendan to a pokemon behind him. He whirled around, as his Treecko repositioned between the trainer and the sound.

The sound turned out to be a bird pokemon that brown eyes instantly recognized as a Wingull. A water/flying type pokemon. His Treecko's only grass type move, absorb, would still do neutral damage to the bird. Plus it would keep his pokemon healthier for longer if the battle were to drag on. But it hadn't had much time to practice the newer move, so should he stick with pound for now? No, the gecko needed to master the simple grass type move. What better way to get that mastery than a trial by fire?

His thoughts were put on pause as the bird flapped its wings twice, lifting back off the ground and spraying a jet of water at Brendan, who rolled out of the way.

"Treecko! Try to latch on and absorb it!" Brendan called out from the mud where he landed. His pokemon responded immediately, leaping from the ground and off a tree the way he had seen Luke's Treecko move.

The dual type saw the maneuver coming and tucked its wings into its sides to drop below the gecko. The bird saw an opening to rush the trainer. The trainer saw an opportunity to flip the bird.

"Change of plans, pound it down, then absorb it!" Brendan cried, having seen similar moves used in televised battles. Well, the pokemon there had done it by themselves, but his Treecko was still learning. He was sure that they would get to that point.

The green lizard heard his trainer and acted as soon as he registered the command. The athletic gecko used the momentum it had from the jump to swing his body around to slam his tail into the bird, knocking it to the mud below. The seagull pokemon landed hard on its back and struggled to roll over and get back in the air, the mud mucking up its plumage.

There was still the second part of the command to follow: absorb. As soon as his feet touched the ground, the Treecko raced to the fallen bird and began draining precious energy from it.

"Treecko, back up! We're catching this one!" Brendan ordered, readying a quick ball that he had picked up in Oldale town. As soon as the reptile had backed away from its opponent, Brendan let the pokeball fly.

He missed. Quite spectacularly. Flushing from embarrassment, he ran to where the quick ball landed, and ran back to drop it on the seagull. It wasn't until after he dropped it that he realized how oblivious he was to what had been going on behind him during his battle with the wild.

*Ding!*

_Well, the ex-wild_, he thought as he turned around intent on seeing their faces and reactions to his first capture. He was far from prepared for what his chocolate eyes would take in.

The area behind where Brendan had been standing was wrecked, with Julia and May lying on their backs, their pokemon unconscious by their sides. Luke was still standing, but he had a vacant look in his blue eyes.

Brendan took a moment to take in the details of the situation. May and his sister were unconscious. All six of their pokemon were out cold, each trainer with matching nosebleeds, and Luke had blood dripping from his ear and eyes onto his boots. The senior trainer was the only one still on his feet, but he looked like a slight breeze would knock him over.

They looked awful. The ground looked worse. A trench about a foot deep cut a line straight to the east, where Brendan knew the water portion of route 103 was. The trench was much smaller in the little clearing they had been in, having circled each of the trainers several times, before regaining its depth in a shot dead north toward Verdanturf Town.

"How the hell did all this happen while I had my back turned? Seriously, what and how?!" Brendan shouted, tilting his head back to shout it at the sky. A noise from in front of him drew his attention back down to the ground.

Luke had fallen to his knees, and began shaking his head, sending drops of blood flying in every direction from his face. He brought a hand to his face, wiping away the stream of blood coming down from his nose. The senior trainer shook his head again before trying to stand up.

He promptly fell right back to the ground, twisting and landing on his side so that he was facing Brendan. Luke's eyes widened upon noticing Brendan's lack of damage.

"How in the name of this good green rock did you not get hit by any of that?" Luke asked, bewildered. He recognized the symptoms: bloody nose, bleeding ears, loss of equilibrium. The 'fight' had almost been too fast for the veteran trainer to process the type of attack he and the girls had been hit with, but it was a very distinct feel that he hadn't felt in almost six months. He would have been more than willing to go the rest of his life without being made to feel it again, and he couldn't forget this feeling no matter how hard he tried. "Wilds don't exactly control who gets hit by their psychic blasts, so why are you still fine and dandy, without even a scratch on you from the wind pressure?"

Luke managed to struggle to his feet, right eye still weeping crimson tears. Barely any white could be seen in his right eye, a blanket of red even bleeding into his iris. It made for a ghastly sight as he struggled to stumble in Brendan's direction, returning to his knees after a meter.

Brendan's shrug did nothing to calm Luke down. His mind was going a mile a minute, trying to process why Brendan didn't get hit. Then a new spout of blood fell from the older boy's nose. _Right, psychic damage. Let's not think too hard about anything for a while_.

Instead, the bloodied teen unstrapped his pack from his back, crawled over to Julia and May, and did the same for them. Once all their packs were off, he took out their sleeping bags and rolled the girls on top of their bags.

Then Luke dragged himself back to his bag and pulled his pokemon close to him to administer the potions and first aid, tending to them until they regained consciousness a few minutes later.

Brendan watched silently as Luke gave his Treecko the hip-pack the older boy always wore with a couple of mumbled directions before he finally passed out on his side, head resting on his extended left arm, right arm extended in front of him.

It really was impressive, Brendan had to admit it. The teen had managed to stay conscious throughout whatever battle had knocked out his sister and best friend, enduring what he claimed were blasts of psychic energy, sort of helped the other two out, restored his pokemon's consciousness, and gave directions to his pokemon before passing out.

The ambitious teen didn't say anything for the next couple hours while the rest of the group slept, the afternoon sky starting to melt into evening hues. The three others regained consciousness within ten minutes of each other, but none of them seemed to interested in talking. Luke's Treecko gave him back the hip-pack. The silence and coordination in waking up ate at Brendan's nerves. That shouldn't have happened.

"We're going to start heading back to Oldale Town tomorrow." Brendan's green eyes shot up as Luke softly spoke for the first time since he woke up. "I'm not entirely sure what happened today, but I'm not about it. Whatever it was seemed pissed at us for being here, so we're going to be not here tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me." Brendan's hand was rubbing his Wingull's pokeball as he spoke. "I don't want to chance getting caught in that too. The girls simply nodded their confirmation.

Even though the night was quiet, Brendan had trouble getting to sleep. He couldn't help the feeling that he was being watched, but all three of the others were asleep on the ground near him their pokemon all returned to their balls. He was unsettled and nervous, although the presence of his Treecko by his head helped some. Both by the events of the day and by the feeling he was getting.

He slept fitfully.

* * *

It had taken the group three days to get from Oldale Town to where the blue blur had assaulted them. _Or, well,_ Luke thought,_ assaulted_ _everyone but Brendan_.

Luke was no stranger to psychic types and their attacks, having dealt with his fair share before coming to Hoenn. But this one had been different. He'd built up a decent resistance to the psychic blasts and intrusions, a side effect of how many times he'd been caught in a wild, or trained on some occasions, pokemon's attack. Most trainers who got to where he did had some kind of resistance, although circumstances led to Luke facing more than his share of psychics.

And yet he was affected almost as much as Julia and May, who didn't have the luxury of having built a resistance to the attacks, his right eye taking enough damage that he taped a handkerchief from his hip pack over it. Then there was Brendan, who somehow was completely fine, suffering no symptoms even though he was less than ten yards away. He didn't even get scratched by the high-pressure air that the blue pokemon had been creating. Luke suspected that it wasn't even an attack: it had just been moving that fast.

The trek back to Oldale took twice as long, since Julia and May needed to stop periodically to rest. Even though Luke didn't seem to need the breaks as badly, he still called off the hiking earlier each day.

All things considered, it took the group of four eight days to get back to Oldale. Luke was frustrated by the sluggish pace but recognized the others didn't have his experience with bouncing back from injuries. Rather, they didn't have his ability to force himself back onto his feet until he got to a hospital.

Once they were back in Oldale, the rookies set off for a hotel. Well, they tried to.

"Nope." Luke said as he steered them towards the Pokecenter. "Our pokemon need something a bit stronger than potions and first aid. And we need medical attention from whatever it was that hit us. Except Brendan."

"Ok, but it's been a week since it happened. If something was going to come out of it besides the headaches and nausea, wouldn't it have happened by now?" Julia questioned, trying to move around Luke to move toward the hotel.

Luke adjusted so he was directly in her way. "Psychic damage is tricky. We need professional medical help for the caliber attacks we took." The single exposed blue eye bored into her before his face tuned into a wry smile, left eye crinkling. "At the very least, I do."

"Sure, says the one who's gotten better the fastest."

"That's just because I've been blasted by more my fair share of psychic types. Said experience is also how I know we all need to get some help. Now let's get to the hospital."

Luke's reasoning was met with three sets of curious, yet stubborn eyes. They were prioritizing comfort over safety. He sighed.

"You know what? Let's play a game. If you can guess any of the pokemon on my old team, my final team from Unova, I'll play along and we can go check in at the hotel first."

That caught the rookies' interest. They could satiate both their curiosity and desire for soft beds at the same time? Bet.

"So we each get a guess, right? I'll say you had a-"

"You have one collective guess for today." Luke cut Brendan off. "And can have one collective guess tomorrow too, and so on."

The rookies took a moment to huddle together. Brown, steel, and green eyes flicked between each other and the bandaged teacher as they spoke.

"He really gets his Poochyena, do you think he had a dog pokemon before too?" May whispered to her two friends, to which Brendan shook his head.

"Maybe? We don't have anything to go off since all he's told us is how far he got before he dropped. He hasn't even mentioned a favorite type or strategy."

"Doesn't really matter." Julia countered. "Since we don't actually know what pokemon are most common in Unova. It's been a year since we were there, I don't actually remember, well, anything but the gym match and the bird incident. We might as well take a Hail Mary here, see if it sticks."

"I mean, fair fights are for suckers." Luke chimed in from just beside the huddled trio. "Why would I give any hints?" All three of them jumped back in surprise. Except Julia, who jumped up, the back of her head slamming into Luke's forehead with a mean thud.

The next sound was Luke's grunt of pain, followed by his head hitting the pavement. Then the blood started coming out of his nose and ears again, his blue eye rolled back into his skull.

"Well," May said as Julia started panicking and Brendan put pressure on the man's nose, "looks like we're heading to the hospital first after all."

* * *

_The pressure_ Luke was experiencing was incredible. Not dissimilar to when he'd gone swimming with Bastion and went a bit too deep a bit too fast. At least there he didn't have to look at the ghosts of his failures though.

"You're on the right track," a masculine spectre said, "just keep going. You've got this."

Luke shook his head. "That isn't how this works, that isn't what you say, you're supposed to-"

"What? Conform to the negative patterns you've set up for yourself?" a feminine voice cut him off. "I didn't do it when I was around you, sure as heck not doing it when I'm not."

"Right, sure. As though you did anything else the other times." Luke stood straighter and clasped his hands behind his back before attempting to stare down the others. "Look, it's been months since the last one, why now? It doesn't matter, I need to be done with this, I get enough when I'm conscious."

"What are you talking about? This is the first time we've been able to-"

Luke's shuddering breath cut the male voice off. "I've accepted the guilt, but I can't accept the consequences yet. I have to make things right before I'm allowed to stop or slow down."

The female voice sighed. "You really are awful at taking your own advice, you know? But that's beside the point, we need you to-"

Luke shot upright in the hospital bed, very nearly bonking heads with Julia again. The near miss caused Julia to fall away from the bed with a yelp. A quick survey let Luke see his bag by the foot of the bed, Julia on the floor, and his hip pack hidden beneath his pack, seemingly undisturbed and unopened. Good.

Julia dusted herself off once she stood up and said, "The doctor said that you'd be out for a while. Instead of, you know, barely a couple hours."

He shrugged in response before standing up and stretching his arms over his head, releasing a huge yawn. After the brief stretch, he made his way to his hip pack and started fishing around in it.

Julia couldn't help but stare. What the doctor had _actually_ said was that Luke suffered some severe psychic damage and would likely be out of commission for several days. Instead, here he was just stretching after a few hours of unconsciousness. Wait, what was up with his right eye? The doctor said it was fine, but here Luke was kneading it with the heel of his hand.

"Like I mentioned, I kinda have experience with getting blasted by psychics. Speeds up the recovery time by a bit." He said, giving Julia a grin as he moved to his bag, rifling through the top pocket.

His hands otherwise occupied, Julia was shocked to see that his right eye had changed color. The cold blue that had ringed the pupil in his right eye was replaced by a vibrant silver. Had the doctor somehow missed the obvious difference between his ID's picture and his right eye? Thankfully, Luke hadn't looked at her long enough to see the shook on her face, his full attention on searching his pack.

She couldn't put her finger on it, but something about Luke seemed off beside the color in his eye, like a switch had been flipped. _Body language? Expression? He wasn't this hard to read before, why is he now?_ Julia thought as Luke slid a pair of sunglasses over his eyes.

"There something on my face? Or am I just that nice to look at?" he joked as he walked by her with his backpack slung over one shoulder, motioning for her to follow. "Now c'mon, lets get me checked out of here so we can get our pokemon taken care of."

Heat rushed to Julia's face at the tease, which she quickly attempted to shake off. If he wasn't going to mention it, she wouldn't. He didn't need anything else to give him a headache. "We already took all the pokemon to the center, Rebecca and Franz are healed up and waiting for you at the hotel."

As the pair made their way to the lobby, Julia couldn't help but be intrigued by Luke' sudden change. Or maybe he didn't and she just hadn't notice it before. Either way, she was going to get to the bottom of it.

"So," Luke started, cutting Julia out of her thoughts, "why were you waiting for me to wake up? According to you, the doctor said it would have been a while before I was active again."

"Oh, well, the three of us agreed that someone needed to be around in case you woke up so we relay information. I volunteered to go first since, you know, I'm the one that knocked you out."

Luke laughed at her. "You're giving yourself too much credit, I was ready to topple before you conked me."

"Sure."

* * *

/AN/ So, that was chapter the fourth. We're getting closer to the end of the chapter build up that I've got right now, daily uploads to stop soon. Let me know what you think of the chapter and the story in general so far, as short as it is.

The idea of building resistance to psychic attacks makes sense to me, either through specialized training or repeated exposure. I don't feel like it's spoiling anything to say it is repeated exposure for Luke. The way I think about it is like mental scar tissue that seals itself tight, making it harder to be infiltrated or attacked the same way, and subconscious conditioning to what works for him to keep his mind safe. That being said, it's far from perfect, and far from adequate to protect himself from anything more than a basic, weak intrusion or attack.

Well, it's that time. I'll be gone until I'm back again.

Peace out, and stay safe y'all.


	5. Chapter 5

The party had been on route 102 for about a week, and Julia had no idea when Luke had caught the Lotad. The four had run into a number of Lotads and other wilds, but she never saw the brunette boy throw a pokeball. The other concerning thing? Both of Luke's eyes were blue again. She knew she hadn't imagined the silver color back at the hospital. She knew it. Right?

She would have asked about it, but the other teen was barely communicating since the four set back into the wild, and she didn't want to pry. He had acted perfectly normal while they were still in town, and it was concerning that their mentor was spaced out from them. She hadn't mentioned the color change in Luke's eye to Brendan or May either, starting to doubt what she thought she had seen, having sustained similar psychic damage. So she sent a message to Brendan and May on the Pokedex message feature the three had discovered while Luke had been unconscious.

'Meet tonight around 11:00 tonight to talk about what's going on with Luke?'

May was the first to respond. 'Worried about your boyfriend? You guys are so CUTE!'

Brown eyes turned back to give May the stink eye. 'I threw up more than a little bit in my mouth when I read that May. Please stop'

'Worried? Yes. Boyfriend? No. The guy is supposed to be teaching us but hasn't said a complete sentence since we left Oldale'

Julia hoped her logic would mean an end of the other teens teasing.

Julia's hope was not founded on sound logic. She expected two sixteen-year-olds to stop because of reason and logic. The teasing didn't stop until they went into their tents, shutting off their Dex's and phones to give the illusion they were sleeping, waiting until just past 11:00 to crawl out of their tents, congregating in the middle of the camp site.

Luke not in his hammock. He wasn't even in the campsite. The three did a quick sweep of the area to find it free of trace from the older boy and even his pokemon.

"Something is definitely up," Brendan whispered after motioning the other two over, "what could he be doing in the middle of the night?"

"Yeah, this is fishy as hell, if he were just getting extra training in he wouldn't keep it a secret, we've already been training with him for the past couple weeks." Julia agreed, her concern drifting from her mentor to her own wellbeing. This didn't seem safe for anyone. He left in the middle of the night in a route crawling with pokemon, with only his Treecko and Poochyena.

"He's from a different region though, right?" May contested, "maybe he's still having trouble adjusting to the time difference? Or just can't sleep? Jumping to conclusions isn't a good idea when we know absolutely nothing about what he's doing, or even if it's the first time he's done this."

"Then why was he ok during the daytime before we left Oldale? Something is going on and I need to know what." Brendan quietly released his Treecko. "Find Luke, but don't let him see you."

The gecko gave a silent nod before scurrying into the trees. May looked after it and shook her head. "You're making assumptions again Brendan, and you know what they say about assumptions."

Shaking her head, Julia sent out Chocolate, the Poochyena feeling right at home in the dark. "We need to know what's happening with Luke, could you lead us to him?"

"Yeah yeah, everyone team up on Brendan. It'll be fine. He can take it." Brendan grumbled to himself as he waited for Treecko to return.

The hyena pup sniffed the air twice before nodding and started walking into the forest, the teens right behind. Brendan quickly returned his Treecko before they were out of the campsite. As they got further from the site, the rookies began to be able to hear Luke's voice over the quiet, moonlit forest, having walked almost half a mile from where they had started.

The older teen stood in a clearing, his pokenav-pokegear- whatever it was, held over his head to keep a stronger signal. A wire went from the communicator to an earpiece, but the rookies would still be able to catch the half of the conversation happening in front of them.

A light on Luke's device flashed blue, prompting the boy to mutter "Finally."

The first thing Luke did in the conversation was wince and briefly pull the earpiece out, holding it as far from his ear as he could. Even from their position several yards behind him the trio could hear the static from what could only have been yelling from the other end of the line. After another moment keeping the offending instrument at arm's length from his ear, Luke replaced the earbud with a sigh.

"Yeah Dubs, I know how early it is over there." A pause as Dubs apparently replied. "It's not that hard to add six hours." A heavier sigh from Lucas this time. "They showed up again, have been for the past week or so, ever since the incident that sent the medical bill your way."

This time Luke's silence lasted almost an entire minute. The rookies looked from one to another. Luke sent his medical bill somewhere? Who is they? Their silent questions went unanswered as Luke resumed speaking.

"Honestly though, I am sorry to bother you with this. Between you, Bee, Syd, Bel, and See-Aych I've managed to forget how to function without one of you there. And they're doing some weird reverse guilt trip to try and make me feel better about things. Yeah, it's different, but blame is easier to take than forgiveness they can't give." Luke took a moment to dig the toe of his boot into the dirt below him. "I also got myself put in charge of some rookies by the professor here. Or rather, I volunteered to do it to give them a shot at the world. You remember Bel's dad? Pretty much the same deal over here. Never wanted to be able to say I've put that experience to use, but here I am."

Another pause from the trainer as his boot kept working on its trench. "Yeah, everything is going well so far aside from that blue blur. Well, that and how slow it's making go."

May, Brendan, and Julia's jaws dropped collectively. This pace was slow for Luke? They were moving at the pace he had set and insisted on maintaining and training the entire time. The blue eyed trainer was steadfast that it would optimize their training. How could he be going faster and still getting what he was claiming the proper amount of training?

"It's weird to be working with the low levels again. Especially with how strong my last companions were."

The trio all flinched at this one. Yeah they were new, but low leveled? That seemed a step too far, especially if he was going to compare them to the trainers he'd been with previously. Really, comparing rookies to people who were with him when he challenged the league? That seems fair.

"The extra work, extra instruction, extra training, extra headache, everything. It sure is a stark contrast to the last few months." Luke took a deep breath, his shoulders raised momentarily before exhaling. "Although the change in scenery is definitely welcome. The stress isn't as all-consuming here, the pressure and atmosphere are different." A short pause. "Of course I meant figuratively, it's obvious the weather and climate are different over here."

Luke paused for a full three minutes this time, switching from digging with his foot to drumming the fingers of his right hand against the opposite shoulder. "The blur? Yeah, I've got a couple ideas about what it was, but I don't think you'll like any of them."

Eyes wide, the three spectators edged forward, almost into the clearing, to make sure they heard what Luke said next. "I've been using See-Aych's to do some extra research using the international mode Juniper installed." Luke paused to take a deep breath. "I have reason to believe we encountered Latios, one of a pair of legendary psychic dragons who supposedly protect a set of orbs, connected to other legends here in Hoenn."

The rookies couldn't believe what their mentor just said. A _legendary_? No way. There had to be another option. Or Luke was just full of himself. Judging by Luke taking out his earpiece and leaning away from it, Dubs couldn't believe it either. How could he? If that had been a legendary pokemon attacking them they'd have been dead for sure. The trio took this as their chance to creep back to camp, leaving Luke none the wiser to their eavesdropping.

* * *

When they arrived, the three lost their collective minds.

Brendan was the first to say anything, speaking in low tones to make sure the sound couldn't carry to where Luke was. "What the heck was all that about? Us slowing him down? Who the hell is 'Dubs?' What did he mean add six? None of this makes any kind of sense!"

"The adding six would be the easy part of the question," Julia replied, "He's from Unova, right? Pretty sure they're six hours ahead of us over there. He was calling someone from home."

"I think you guys are reacting to the wrong things." May spoke said, causing the other two to turn toward her. "He thinks that we fought a _legendary_ pokemon and survived with minimal damage. He might not be entirely there up here." She knocked on her head to make sure her point got across.

"May's right." Brendan added, "I don't think he's entirely stable, especially after the amount of psychic damage it seemed like he took from the blur. Not sure if it's safe to keep sticking around him for much longer."

Julia frowned at that. "I'm with you part of the way, but just going based on what we saw, it is a conclusion that could be drawn, with how fast and powerful it was. I think he's being hasty jumping to conclusions, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's unstable or unhealthy. We shouldn't jump the gun on him being dangerous to us just because he's making an assumption."

"You know what people say about assuming."

"That doesn't explain his other sudden behavior though. He's barely talking, even to his pokemon. This was the most we've heard him speak since we left Oldale and we had to spy on him to even get this." Brendan said, gesturing with his hands to the forest where Lucas still was. "And what was that thing he said about them showing again ever since the hospital. Who is they? When and where are they showing up?"

The three argued for another ten minutes before finally calling it a night and heading to sleep.

* * *

After almost five minutes of his friend shouting at Luke about his suspicion, she managed to shout herself out. Luke could hear his friend's panting over his X-Transceiver. The connection was spotty at best, but it was the first time he had managed to get a connection strong enough to contact Unova since the nightmares had come back, and he was not going to waste it.

The trainer sighed. "Listen, Dubs," he spoke softly into the communicator, "I don't like it either. But what else could be fast enough to get by Heracles and then blitz my group before he could intercept it?"

"A teleporter could have, or one of those frogs from Kalos that Professor Juniper told us about." A distinctly feminine voice responded, hoarse from the screaming she had just done.

Luke shook his head, his fingers moving to drum on his leg instead of his shoulder. "I know what psychic blasts feel like a little too well Dubs. It hit us hard enough that I got knocked into what the doctors said was a light coma when one of my companions knocked her head into mine afterward. My one of my ears is still ruptured from the air pressure it created with either psychic power or just how fast it was moving, not sure yet. Either way, I know what I saw, know what I felt. It was insane. And horrifyingly familiar."

A heavy sigh came through the line. "That doesn't mean I have to like it."

"I don't either," Luke responded,"but there could be an upside to this."

"Really?"

Luke afforded himself a small smile. "Yeah. Its purpose is supposedly to guard the mystic orbs correlating to the legendary pokemon in this region. Which means, if I can keep getting it to show up, maybe tag or follow it-"

"No." Dubs cut him off. "I am not losing anyone because of a legendary, do you hear me? Trying to challenge it is far too dangerous, from what you've said it'd wreck you before you had a chance to get any of your pokemon out."

"Dubs, either Gojira or Heracles is out at all times, and I'm not talking about it getting the drop on me, I mean when I can-"

"It doesn't matter, besides, how do you plan to get the drop on something that even you described as a blur?"

"I'm no stranger to fighting an opponent I can't see or keep track of, this could be the best shot we've had in the past four months since I tracked _those_ three to that village!"

"That isn't what this is about, this is basic risk reward-"

"Risking me is well worth the potential reward. Besides, I'll figure it out, you know that, this is what I'm-"

"For the last time, NO!" Dubs cut him off again. "Even if you could, what are the chances it would work the way you want to? You can't risk this for everyone."

"Look, Dubs, this could be my best-"

"Luke, I'm only saying this one more time-"

"Just listen to me-"

"LUCAS WILLIAMS!"

Luke's mouth hung open, cringing from both the pain in his formerly uninjured ear and the intense denial of his plan. Luke managed to close his mouth and take a deep breath before opening it again, only for Dubs to cut him off.

"I get it. You want to get this done as soon as possible, and I understand that. But it isn't safe for you, your pokemon, or those rookies you're apparently in charge of now. This is the last time I'll tell you. You are not allowed to pursue the blue blur you think was Latios. You. Are. Not. Allowed."

Luke bowed his head in submission, even though he knew the connection wasn't strong enough to support the X-Transceiver's video function. "Fine. Also, I've got the first one to send over, it's a low powered Lotad, and it'd be perfect for you once it becomes a Ludicolo. I'll get it shipped once I'm at the next Center." Luke sounded flat, even to his own ears. His friend had just sucked all the wind out of his sails. And there was not a chance in hell that Dubs hadn't picked up on how defeated he sounded.

"Look, Lucas," she said, "I just need you to understand how reckless and dangerous this is and how important you are to everything we're trying to do." Dubs soft voice carried over the ear piece, attempting to soothe the damage her outburst dealt.

"I do understand how dangerous it is. I just hate how nothing is getting done on my end. This inactivity, stagnation, is killing me. This entire situation is my fault and I'm the least help out of us all."

"Lucas, I get it. But you literally can't cover as much ground as he can." Dubs didn't bother arguing with Luke's assignment of blame. "You aren't just over there for this, it's also supposed to be helping you."

"I know."

A heavy silence fell over the call. It stayed for what felt like an hour to Lucas before he finally broke it. "I'm sorry about all this Dubs. I really am. Thanks for talking with me, I needed this, needed a break from the nightmares."

"Of course, Luke. I'm here for when you need to talk, it's why I got you the international function on your X-Transciever." Her voice adopted a lighter tone when she continued, "Just try not to call me at 5:00 AM over here, yeah?"

"Sounds good, I'll do it at three next time." The two shared a laugh split by thousands of miles.

"Good night Luke, I do hope the nightmares will go away."

"What a coincidence, me too. Night Dubs."

With a final laugh, Luke severed the connection and turned off his X-Transceiver. Then he turned off the Pokedex he'd been using to boost the signal strength.

"Heracles." The trainer spoke, and a pokemon jumped down from the trees nearby, standing right beside Luke. "Good job today, but it's time to let Gojira take over."

The pokemon disappeared into the net ball in Luke's hand even as the trainer dropped a dusk ball to release the other pokemon.

"You know the drill girl," he said as he started walking back towards the campsite, "nothing in, and stay low. Or, you know, as low as you can." The materialized pokemon growled in acknowledgement.

Luke got back to his hammock and managed to sleep through the rest of the night.

* * *

AN:  
Alright, short chapter, I know. I just didn't feel good making a super long chapter that also happened to have this sequence/these scenes in it, didn't quite feel right given the weight that this chapter should have for the trio. And yes, Luke was oblivious to their presence. He has damaged hearing for the time being and had 'Dubs' talking into his other ear, and he had no reason to turn around unless Heracles said or did something to warrant it.

So yeah, that was the chapter. Communication between producer and consumer is important. At least that's what I've heard, so it must be true, right?

Anyways, I'll be gone until I'm back again. Stay safe y'all.


	6. Chapter 6

Luke's mood had drastically improved since his talk with 'Dubs' earlier in the week. For some reason his charges seemed to have withdrawn since then for no apparent reason. It made no sense.

Even straightforward, goal driven Brendan was losing focus during training against the wilds in the area. Each of them was absorbed enough in their Dex that they barely would notice when Luke would comment on the terrain or the markings a wild left behind. It was driving Luke crazy that these kids who were so eager to leave home, against their mother's wishes, were spending this much time on their devices instead of experiencing the wilds around them. Something had to be done.

The trio had compiled a list of who or what 'Dubs' could be. The list was irritatingly short: a friend, a family member, a girlfriend, an assistant, an acronym, a place, a rival, or a boss. The thing that really agitated Julia about the situation was how little information they had to go on. Not just for figuring out who 'Dubs' was, but for understanding Luke, who despite seeming open had shared the bare minimum about who he was and his past. So the steel-eyed girl did what she had been doing for the past week. She messaged the other two rookies about it.

J: Any new ideas on how to figure out all this?

M: I still think you should just ask him out and make him spill

B: Pls stop

M: Nah, too cute

J: No, really, stop

M: You could just pretend :P

J/B: ?

M: Well, people who are trying to date generally play 20 questions, right? Use it to learn about him

B: Ok but what if we didn't

Julia was in the middle of typing a rejection of May's plan when a word stuck out. Brendan had used the word _We_. If she wasn't the only one confronting Luke, then it wouldn't seem like she was trying to ask him out and all three of them would learn instead of hearing it second hand from her. Besides, Luke had to be curious about the three of them, right? He barely knew anything about them outside of the bare minimum. Looking back at her phone, neither Brendan or May had responded, so she keyed in her idea.

* * *

That evening, with dinner on the propane stove, the four sat on the grass in the middle of the tents. Luke had no idea why they had called him over from his hammock, but he was willing to humor them. It was a definite improvement over the non-communication that had been going on since they had left Oldale Town. Except for the moment they were all pinging away on their respective Dex. Then, almost simultaneously, they shut the devices and looked right at him. It sent a shiver up Luke's spine.

"So we were talking," Brendan started, motioning between the three rookies, "and we realized that even though you've been with us for almost a month now, we know next to nothing about you except for some generalized stuff you told us day one."

Luke opened his mouth to speak but was cut off as May picked up where Brendan stopped. "And you barely know anything about any of us either. So we came up with a fix to both."

"You've played 20 questions, right?" Julia finished for the trio, looking directly at Luke. Luke's hand had been creeping toward his hip pack before it clenched into a fist, then relaxed in his lap.

He would play this smart. There was no way they would ask specifics about why he was in Hoenn, and he could bluff his way out if they managed to poke too closely. _This is Ok_, he thought to himself as the three observed him, looking for his reaction, _play it cool, find out what's going on here_.

Luke smiled as he straightened his back, putting his hands behind his head as though to lean back and relax. "Alright, I'm game." Looks of relief passed between the three, as though they were worried he would say no. "So, how is this going to work? Do we pair off, each ask one person and go in a circle, what?"

"We were more thinking of the three of us asking you and then you asking the three of us." May explained, leaning forward with her hands on her knees. "Each 'team' would get one set of questions to ask the other side. So we would have twenty to ask you, and you would get a total of twenty to ask us. Except twenty seems like a lot so let's shave it down to ten."

_So I'll be telling more than I get out of any one of them_. Luke frowned a bit before his grin returned. "Sure, why not? Could be fun. Who's first?"

Luke took a sip of his water when May cleared her throat, anticipating a lengthy question and needing to provide just as long of an answer. "Question one: Are you single?"

The water that had been going down his throat came sputtering back as Luke's blue eyes widened, hacking up the liquid. Most of the water fell on his vest and shorts, but some of it managed to fly across to hit Brendan, who was directly across from him.

Brendan and Julia took the moment to glare at May. She had just wasted 10% of their questions with that. What did she think she was doing?!

Luke wiped a hand across his nose and mouth before finally replying. "Well, yeah. I think."

Julia's stare suddenly shifted from May to Luke. "What do you mean you think? That seems a bit too open of an answer to a yes/no question."

"I mean, I'm not disagreeing with you," Luke said as he winced, "but we were, then we weren't, then we sort of were, then she left before we could talk things out. But I haven't seen or talked to her in almost six months. So I'm pretty sure I'm single." He shook his head to buy some time and clear his thoughts. "Sorry, there was almost never a simple way to answer that even back home. It was almost always 'It's complicated.'"

That question had come out of nowhere and hit like a house tied to a ton of bricks. Luke was on his back foot, he needed a question long enough to get his composure back, and he had three targets to aim at. Something simple, that they could talk about for a while. "What's your favorite part of being out here so far?" Luke gestured to the clearing and trees around them, the late afternoon sky above them. "Or rather, what's the best part of having left home?"

"My pokemon." May responded almost instantly, her hands going to the pokeballs that held her Torchic and Wurmple respectively. "I get to have them out all the time and they help me as I get to help them."

Luke nodded as Julia picked up immediately once May finished. "Finally being allowed to leave home, the freedom and space out here is intoxicating, and Oliver and Chocolate are fantastic."

"Getting to start training so I can get strong enough to challenge my dad, then battle my way up to being the league battle champion." Brendan's response was cookie-cutter with regards to the league. At least he had the tidbit about wanting to be able to challenge his dad? He could use a question on it later. "Question two: what is your favorite pokemon type and why?"

Luke's response was immediate. "Water type. As for why, I just really like the water, and swimming, and surfing, and boating. All great exercise, all great fun." Luke thought for a moment before asking his next question. "Just who is your dad? The way you just talked about him Brendan makes him seem like an incredible trainer."

Julia responded before Brendan had a chance, holding her hand up to hold him off. "We're going to put that question on hold, you'll get to meet him at some point, we'll leave the surprise for then."

"You're dodging the question."

"No, just delaying when it gets answered. Anyways, question three-"

"I'm not answering any more until you tell me who he is." Luke cut her off mid-sentence, raising his hand palm out. "That's how this game works. We all have to be upfront about this."

Brendan shrugged. "It doesn't really matter, he's one of the strongest normal-type trainers there is. I'm sure you'll meet him at some point out here."

Luke's smile was wide. "See, that wasn't so hard. Go ahead with your next question." The three rookies shared a conspiratorial glance before going on.

"Alright, question three: have you had any nicknames or epithets?"

It was Julia who asked this time. Luke cringed a bit as his grin turned from face-splitting to sheepish. "I'm kinda huge on giving and having nicknames, all my friends back home would always complain about my nickname for them. Most of them were just bad anyways, I'm sure you guys wouldn't be interested." The expectant looks from the three were enough to let the blue-eyed boy know he was wrong. "My primary nicknames were L, Navy, and Scout, depending on who was talking to me. I guess Scout falls more into the epithet category though. My friends got names like KitKat, Syd, CH, Bel, B, Pitch, Hair, and a couple others that really are just too dumb to name off."

"KitKat?" May asked, a crease appearing as she tried to figure out what kind of person deserved a nickname that sounded like a pokemon.

"Yeah, like the candy. Do they not have them here?" Blue eyes widened as blank expressions met his own. Luke shook his head, "Snickers? Twix? None of them? Geez, Maybe I'll order some from home, let you guys try some."

One of the names Luke said stuck out. CH. See-Aych. He said the letters phonetically, but the trio hadn't realized it before, same with B and Bee. Julia shot a nod to Brendan, who had come to the same conclusion that she had. The names started to make sense. May went right on in the conversation though, compensating for her friends' distraction. "Have the three of us gotten nicknames yet?"

"In my head? Yeah. Have I said any of them out loud to anyone? Nope." Luke laughed as he scratched the back of his head, a slight flush creeping into his neck and ears.

"Really now?" Brendan asked. "Care to give us a bit of insight into what our fearless leader has been thinking of us as?"

Luke sighed as he pulled his hand from the back of his head, placing it solidly in the grass beside him. "Are you sure you want to know? They aren't really all that good or creative. Downright lame really if you ask me." Three nods were the only response given. Another hefty sigh escaped Luke's chest as he dejectedly gazed back at the trio. The three of them were so in sync it was almost frightening.

"Again, none of them are good," Luke prefaced, leaning forward slightly, resting his head on his hands, propped up by the elbows on his knees. "Julia is either Jewel or Jul; the phonetics aren't that important in my head. Brendan is B-Dan, sometimes just Dan, and May is May." He was met with a disappointed look and two skeptical ones. "It would be Em but that one's already taken. Besides, nicknames don't help as much when your name is only one syllable anyways."

Luke hadn't mentioned Dubs at all. Was that someone's actual name? What a poor guy, the teasing from having such an odd name must have been awful. Or he just didn't want to talk about him. He seemed to be being honest, but that didn't mean he was saying everything. Why did him answering the biggest question not actually answer the question?

"Anyway," Luke said, interrupting her thoughts, "my turn to ask." Luke stopped suddenly. He didn't really have another question. Why did it feel like it was improv time all the time anymore? "So, if you could go to another region, for vacation, training, journey, whatever, which region would you go to?"

Julia and Brendan shrugged. "Our family has been to pretty much every league region other than Kalos and Sinnoh." Julia explained, a slight frown tugging at the corner of her lips, "So probably Sinnoh." Brendan nodded his agreement at his sister's words.

"I would definitely go to Kanto." Blue eyes turned to question May when she spoke. "It would give me a chance to work with Professor Oak and help my dad even more than I could here."

"Question four: why do you wear four identical shirts all the time? And what does the BW even mean?" Brendan's eyes were boring into the logo on the brunette boy's shirt, exposed since Luke had unzipped his vest.

"Oh. I guess I never mentioned. I'm a sponsored trainer. That's my company's logo." Luke said it so nonchalantly. The reactions were anything but. Brendan's eyes were wide, his mouth going open and closed like a Magikarp's. Julia shook her head from side to side, blinking rapidly. May just looked between her friends with a confused expression.

"Why are you guys so surprised? It makes total sense. You need a lot of money to just up and move to a new region to train or have someone else paying for you." May pointed at Luke. "It especially makes sense from a business point of view if they're trying to expand to new regions." Brendan and Julia gave her odd looks, causing the bandana girl to flush a little. "Companies are always trying to sponsor my dad when he travels, I just picked up on some things."

Luke nodded. "You're completely right May, although the company isn't looking to expand outside of Unova at the moment."

"Wait, just what kind of company is it?" Julia asked, "Why would they send a trainer to a distant region if they aren't looking to expand there?"

The blue-eyed boy waved his hand, dismissing the question. "It's part of an industry that you guys don't have over here, at least to my knowledge, and the President's knowledge based on what they told me, and it would take too long to explain. But it is a pokemon centered company."

"Still, why would they pay for you to come over here? It doesn't make any sense." Brendan asked, his eyes narrowed. The pair of brunette girls looked to Luke in curiosity.

The questioned boy shrugged. "I'm just sending some of the pokemon I catch here back to them through the ranch that takes care of the pokemon I'm not carrying right now. There's another trainer doing the same thing as me over in Sinnoh. Boss' words were something about helping us expand when we're ready to."

Blue eyes turned to the stove that had just finished boiling the water for their dehydrated meals. Luke moved over and poured the water into the packets before returning to his spot. "Well, food's almost ready. Let's cut this to five questions instead, yeah? You guys can go ahead and ask me the last one, I don't mind."

The three exchanged looks for a couple seconds, brown eyes meeting steel and green, before Brendan spoke. "What was your team when you challenged the Unova League?"

The senior trainer smiled. It was a small, sad smile. "It was Bastion, Patti," Luke paused for a moment, his smile fading. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before continuing. "Dayne, Theia, Katie, and Sonia."

When the teen opened his eyes again, they were wet with emotion. After a deep breath and some rapid blinking, it was gone. "They are some of the best friends I could have asked for."

Brendan was about to keep pressing for what pokemon they were but May held up a gloved hand. Luke was pretty clearly purposely avoiding saying what pokemon he had used, either in some continuation of the game he'd suggested back in Oldale or something else, but it was obvious he didn't want to just come out and say it.

The four ate their dinner in relative silence, going directly to bed after they cleaned the area.

* * *

The next day had the quartet find a dense population of trainers outside Petalburg City around noon. The first one they found was about five miles outside the city in a clearing beside the trail they were on. A single look at the boy told Luke everything he needed to know. A ball cap on backwards. Plain mono-colored t-shirt. _Shorts_. This was a youngster, no question.

The short boy raised his hand from his side and pointed directly at the group, his eyes darting between the four trainers. He found cold blue eyes staring back at him from under a ball cap. The blue eyes held a hand up and stepped forward, grabbing a pokeball off his belt.

Luke tossed a glance over his shoulder as he walked toward the youngster. "Pay attention guys, this is something you guys are going to be seeing and doing a lot." Facing the youngster again, Luke frowned when the shorter boy hadn't moved. "Well, c'mon. We need to talk about the stakes and restrictions." The youngster came stepped toward Luke, the two meeting in the middle of the clearing.

There was almost an entire foot height difference between the youngster and the Unovan teen. The brunette teen extended his hand, and the younger boy took it, giving a single solid shake. "I'm Luke, no badges yet, and I have two battling pokemon,"

The three rookies watched with varying levels of interest. Brendan watched with rapt attention, Julia paid attention, and May didn't care. Luke and the short boy worked out the wager and how many pokemon would be used, and began the battle, each sending out a Poochyena.

Luke only gave two commands to his pokemon through the duration of the short battle, allowing the dark-type's battle instincts to lead. The difference in training between the two Poochyena was astonishing. The difference between the trainers was incredible. The younger boy stood ramrod stiff, pointing at the opposing team and shouting commands, while Luke seemed relaxed part of the time. The rest of the time Luke was fidgety, leaning to one side as though to dash around the battle's perimeter. The teen smiled after he shook the youngster's hand, accepting the prize money and passing the younger boy a potion before walking balk to the group, Franz eagerly running around his trainer's legs. The rookies realized it was the first time they had ever seen Luke stay in the same spot for a battle, and he clearly wasn't used to it.

Luke kneeled next to his pokemon and started petting and scratching the canine behind its ears, giving him quiet congratulations. After a moment the teen stood back up and motioned back to the youngster. "So, did you get all that?"

The bandana girl shrugged, "No, and I don't care. I don't plan on fighting."

Chocolate and steel eyes bobbed as the siblings nodded. Luke smiled and waved his hand toward the trail leading to Petalburg City, "Then it looks like it's your turn. Let's see what you've got!" The four trainers turned back up the trail towards the city and resumed the trek toward the city.

* * *

It took the teens until late afternoon when they would normally break for camp to reach the edge of the city. Brendan and Julia had run a gauntlet of youngsters with a couple of lasses and bug trainers in the mix. The three rookies all moved straight to the PokeCenter, with Luke waving them on. "I'm going to walk around the city for a while, see if I can't get a feel for where things are, go ahead and restock our food."

Once his companions left, he activated his X-Transceiver to check Petulburg's rules about pokemon outside their pokeballs. His expression brightened before releasing Franz and Rebecca, each assuming their customary positions. The gecko curling on his shoulder, the hyena pup excitedly darting between and around his feet. "Stay close Franz, we're just checking things out."

The trainer and his pokemon wandered around what Luke could tell was the gym district, passing by the small PokeCenter specifically designed for gym challengers and stepping into the PokeMart across the street, returning his Pokemon as he did so.

New region, new town, new building, same pokemart design. Luke moved through the isles with practiced ease, hardly needing to look at the products he was choosing until he arrived at the pokeball selection, trying to plan out which types he might need more of before shaking his head and stepping toward the counter and paying for his basket. His current stock would be fine for the moment.

Placing the supplies in his pack, the brunette released the two again once he left the small building, walking aimlessly before arriving at the gym. There was nothing else it could have been. The massive building stood alone at the edge of the district, dominating the buildings beside and across from it. Behind the building was the arena, the towers on either side of the battlefield present to provide spectators both in person and at home a bird's eye view of the battles.

An anticipatory chill shot through the eighteen-year-old's body. Conquering the league had never been his dream, but damn if he hadn't grown to enjoy challenging the gyms. There weren't many things that could compete with the feeling he got when he stepped into one of those arenas.

"Are you challenging the gym circuit?" A man with jet black hair asked, snapping Luke from his thoughts. The man was wearing a red zip-up jacket with a plain black shirt underneath, with a pair of blue jeans going down to his black boots. "Because the gym is closed for the next week or so, something about the last battle causing structural damage to the bleachers."

A snort escaped Luke as he walked over to give the man a closer inspection. If the gym was closed, why was this guy just standing outside? "I am, but I wasn't planning to challenge this one yet, my team isn't quite ready for a badge fight yet." Blue eyes scoured the man. There had to be more than what was on the surface.

His undershirt seemed to be tight across the man's chest from what little Luke could see, and a few small streaks of grey were hidden in his hair, piercing coal black eyes attempting to bore into Luke. What sealed the deal was the confidence and authority that surrounded the man, who Luke would guess was in his early to mid-40's. Cold blue eyes finally turned back to meet hard coal ones, the two locked in a stare for several moments.

"So you're the gym leader here," Luke said as he casually broke the stare and turned to the front of the building, resting his hands behind his head. The man's expression went from cold to surprised to amused incredibly quick.

"You're sharp," the man replied, stepping toward Luke and offering his hand. "The name's Norman, I run the Petalburg Gym. What badge tier would you be looking at challenging?"

Luke took the offered hand. "Luke Williams. Right now? Level one. I've only been adventuring here for about a month now." Luke's statement made Norman's eyes narrow.

"Really now, you don't expect me to believe that, do you?" The man asked as he walked toward the gym entrance. "With the way you carry yourself and how easy you sniffed out I'd put you down as having at least five badges." Norman opened the door, motioning for the teen to follow him into the well-lit interior. "Besides, even with how pale your arms are, I can see those scars."

The blue eyes followed him in. Once inside, he took a moment to look around the lobby. True to what Norman had said, there was no clerk behind the desk, nor any challengers seeking to win a gym badge. It was quiet enough to hear a Butterfree's wingbeat, and that unnerved Luke. Gyms weren't supposed to be quiet like this. Luke frowned.

"Did one battle really damage the bleachers so much to shut the gym down for an entire week?" the teen asked, looking around the empty room. "Why not just move the battles to an indoor arena while they get fixed?"

Norman sighed. "Officially, yes, the battle did that much damage. An Aggron's earthquake is nothing to take lightly. Unofficially, the repair could have been finished in a couple days. But my kids just started their journeys and are stopping by at some point this week. I haven't been the best at being around and figured I'd take them out to dinner while they're in town." The raven-haired man pointed at Luke. "And answer the question, how many badges do you really have?" Norman's eyes narrowed to slits "Unless those scars aren't from training?"

Luke shook his head, straightening his cap as he did so. "Nah, they're definitely from training. And I guess I should say that I don't have any gym badges from Hoenn, I've got a full set from back home." The teen laughed at Norman's surprised expression. "But I'm starting fresh here. New adventure, new goal, new team."

The older man nodded before walking down a hallway to one of the smaller, side arenas. "Well, I guess that makes sense. Anyway, I figured since you're experienced you might be able to lend a hand?"

"So long as it's within reason, sure."

"Well," Norman said as the pair approached the arena doors, "one of the kids from town, he's been asking me to be one of my tier one gym trainers for a couple years now. Only problem is that he's got a sickness, the doctors don't know what it is, but think it could get aggravated by battling. But he's been getting worse, and his family thinks it might do him some good to get out and at least be happy with pokemon for a while."

"You'll have to forgive me," Luke started, "but I don't see where I fall in this?"

"You're going to teach him how to catch a pokemon." Norman said, smiling at Luke as he pushed the double doors open.

"Luke, meet Wally."

* * *

/AN/ Some of you may be wondering why Luke doesn't remember Julia and Brendan's dad is a gym leader and put two and two together from chapter 1. He didn't really care about the answers they gave, he was just trying to fill time before he got his Hoenn license. He hadn't agreed to act as a body guard/mentor yet.

And now Luke gets to go from helping newbies to helping a newbie. Not his favorite thing in the world, but he's been made to go all in. Homie has to do what homie has to do. As for why Luke doesn't want to challenge the gym yet, he knows what strength his pokemon need to be at for a tier one gym battle, and knows they aren't there. This is going to keep being the reason he isn't challenging Norman when they are in/near Petalburg, since it doesn't really matter to him or Norman when they battle, unlike Brendan and Julia who want to face off with Norman later on in their runs.

And the questions game? Yeah, super lazy writing on my part. The rookies needed a simple, somewhat unassuming way to get some information out of Luke, and Luke cut it off earlier than the trio wanted him to. Which means that May used up 20% of the resources trying to get some water boiling for tea. And she would do it again. Gladly

Why is May the way she is? No idea. I went in with an idea of what I wanted Luke, Brendan, Julia, and a couple other characters down the line to be like. I forgot to think through what May would be like. So I'm winging it. Just trying to have fun with it, inconsistencies and sloppy character writing and all.

Anyways, I'll be gone until I'm back again. Stay safe y'all.


	7. Chapter 7

**Not a Halloween chapter by any means, but I figured I'd drop this chapter today. I was going to try to switch to updating weekly or every two weeks, but I've got it here, and it's not really doing much sitting here, so I'm committing to just posting when I have the chapter done and finished the light edits. Because I write this story for my own enjoyment as much as anything else, so why should I hold back on releasing it?**

/AN/ Real quick the sentence that Wally refers to when the difference happens is the one Luke is reacting to. I'm sure there is a better way for me to communicate this with the formatting, but I don't know how to do it and be happy with it. Even what I have feels jumbled because it keeps switching from Luke's thoughts to Wally's instead of being sequential, which confuses me when I'm reading and a bit when I'm writing. Anyways, here we go.

* * *

Credit where credit was due. Wally's enthusiasm far exceeded anything that Luke had seen since he'd arrived in Hoenn, and only a select few could match the intensity pouring off the green-haired, fifteen-year old boy. Norman left soon after introducing the two teens, leaving them to converse. Wally's pale blue eyes seemed to gleam in excitement whenever the conversation came back to pokemon.

Being near Luke was different than anything Wally had ever experienced before. The older teen radiated power in a way that not even Mr. Norman did, enough that it filled the arena the two were sharing. To Wally, it felt like a storm was brewing around him that he couldn't fight or run from, centered around Luke. The fifteen-year old had no idea where it was coming from. It felt like a summation of parts: the cold, observative eyes, the confidence in his stance, the pale scars that were just barely noticeable on arms used to being covered by sleeves. Except each conveyed power individually.

Despite the enthusiasm and energy, the signs of Wally's sickness had no hope of going past Luke unnoticed. The way the boy's body was wracked by shivers every few minutes, despite the pale jacket he wore and the heat that was borderline oppressive for Luke. The coughing fits that shook his body after speaking too quickly or loudly. The sickly pallor of his face, how he made only necessary movements. To the blue eyes across from him Wally appeared to be on death's door.

When Norman mentioned the boy being sick, Luke hadn't envisioned something this severe. The eighteen-year old began to finger the pokeball holding the Lotad he'd been planning on sending to Dubs. Going into the wild to catch a pokemon, even just the outskirts of the city, could very well risk the boy's life. He wouldn't refuse the boy the chance of living in peace with a pokemon for what time he had left. Luke wasn't cruel and wouldn't be using the dual type anyway. Dubs would understand. The peace that it could bring Wally was far and away more than anything Dubs could make of it.

Put simply, Wally was awed and intimidated, but enthused most of all. The sense of being with such a strong trainer was invigorating. As he finished a sentence, he looked to Luke for a response. The atmosphere in the room changed in an instant. The brewing storm became a hug of warm air, cold blue eyes softened, no longer holding pity for the younger boy.

"It's always been my dream to catch pokemon and become a trainer, and now, even with how sick I am, I'm happier than ever to be following my dream." Wally's sentence, spoken with quiet determination, snapped Luke out of his thoughts, back to the conversation he'd inadvertently tuned out. Or rather, one word broke through his thoughts. _Dream_. It was Wally's dream. Probably the only one he'd ever had.

Cold blue eyes melted into warm pools. The silence crept on, Wally looking to the older teen for a response, curious eyes peering through Luke's expression. The simple innocence and power behind those words chilled and invigorated the trainer. It was startlingly familiar, and Luke didn't know what to make of that.

"Well than Wall-man," Luke said, "let's get going. Not gonna be able to catch many pokemon from the gym, are we?" A quick glance at his X-Transceiver surprised the boy; his conversation with Wally had lasted nearly two hours. It couldn't happen today though, dusk was creeping in, and it'd be darker than a Hydreigon before they made it far enough from the city for Wally to catch a pokemon. "How about tomorrow? We can meet up at the center a block from here for breakfast, then head out to get you that pokemon."

A blue ball cap followed about a step behind green hair as the two continued chatting, the warmth never leaving the conversation as they left the gym building. Heading east once they were in the open air again, the pair walked toward Wally's home.

After saying farewell to the green haired boy, Luke resumed his aimless walking. Norman was exactly what he had come to expect gym leaders to be. Wally was a shot from left field, and there was no good explanation for what had happened there. The two boys had met just three hours ago, and Luke knew that there was no rationale behind it, but Wally felt like a little brother to Luke. And it made. No. Sense. Mannerisms, tone, speech patterns, the feeling of being idolized and put on a pedestal.

It made Luke uncomfortable, and made him think of his actual little brother, off somewhere in Sinnoh if Mom had stuck to her plan to move there when they had to move out of Unova. Heat crept up his neck and into his cheeks. He hadn't seen or really contacted his family ever since the incident in Nimbassa City. Hell, he didn't even know what region they were in. He'd been moving and working toward the league. Then, if he was being honest, became obsessed over the next goal. And this was the first time he'd really thought of them since arriving in Hoenn. Screw uncomfortable, Luke was ashamed. Time to end the reflection and get back to the rookies. He pulled up his X-Transceiver and keyed a message into the group chat they hadn't used since he woke up in Oldale.

LW: Yo, where did you guys end up staying? I'm ready to be done with my walk, need to know where to come

JC: We're at the housing for trainers right beside the center

BC: That was a long freaking walk

MB: We've been walking all week, why do more? Without even dropping your pack off?

LW: I just enjoy taking long, enthusiastic walks, and walks are different than hiking. Also, which center?

JC: There's more than one?

LW: Then I guess it's the one we went to as soon as we got in, sounds good I'll head over

MB: Room 202 B

The teen moved back towards the outskirts, not bothering to hold in a sigh. PokeCenter housing was fine, fantastic even considering there was no cost to licensed trainers. The problem Luke had was with the food. He honestly preferred the food that he'd become accustomed to eating on the trail. Maybe it would be better here than it was in Unova? Eh, he wasn't too hungry. He'd wait out the night and deal with it in the morning.

When he arrived at the room number May had sent, he was pleasantly surprised to find the rookies had snagged a suite for while they were in town. _How did they manage this_, he thought, looking around the small communal area, _these normally need to be reserved a couple weeks in advance, especially since it's near the start of the circuit year_. Blue eyes narrowed to look at the trio of rookies chatting on the couch. _Maybe they got lucky booking? Maybe Hoenn doesn't have as many trainers that travel in groups_?

It was certainly possible. Unova's trainer population traveled in groups more often than not, especially when he was making his journey. Bigger groups made bigger targets, but they also meant more protection for each person. Although it wasn't always enough, especially with the chaos that was rampant through Unova when he was there.

"What are you making that face for?" Brendan asked, waving Luke over to the couch. "C'mon, we were just talking about who would get to challenge the gym first." The older boy made his way over to stand beside his junior, sliding the pack off his shoulders and setting it against the wall. The rookies scrunched their noses when Luke got close.

"I'm about to jump a shower and do laundry." Luke said, dismissing them with a wave of his hand. "None of you smelled any better when we were on the trail."

"Well, anyway," Brendan resumed speaking, "do you want to challenge the gym first? I was going to, but I figured you should get priority."

The brunette boy shrugged in response. "To be honest it doesn't really matter, the gym is closed for the time being." Two confused looks and one curious glance told Luke that he would need to explain. "I went by the gym district when I was walking, it was posted on the gym doors. And on that note, I'm going to be meeting up tomorrow with someone I met on my walk today, grab breakfast and head back out to battle some of those trainers on the edge of town. You guys can come with if you want." Luke hefted his pack by its external frame, slinging it over one shoulder as he made his way to the bathroom/laundry area. "I'm gonna go ahead and throw my clothes in the machine and get that shower."

* * *

Luke woke up early, as per usual. He had a tendency to wake up about an hour before May, who was the next earliest riser. As such he was quite surprised to see all three of the rookies awake and at the common room table when he emerged from his room in his freshly laundered clothes.

"What are you guys doing awake?" he asked. "None of you are ever up this early, especially at the same time. Is there something I should know?"

A look shot between the three that the Unovan teen couldn't decipher. They were wordlessly bouncing ideas and possibilities between them, having an entire conversation with that glance. Luke knew it well, he had been able to do it with his team back in Unova. Except back then he hadn't processed how irritating it could be to be on the outside of said visual conversations, not knowing the trio's visual cues beyond what almost all teens shared.

The rookies had been waiting to find out when it was that the older teen woke up. He always went to sleep after them and rose earlier. Even after he'd answered their questions, the trio was still suspicious of anything the man did when they couldn't see. And the most suspicious thing of all was the walk he took last night. He was a stranger in Hoenn, didn't know the city, didn't even know that Norman Carols, the gym leader, was Brendan and Julia's father. Yet he had met someone and arranged to meet up with them today? Things didn't add up. The only form of validation was the invitation he had extended to the teens. Which they couldn't accept because they were spending the day with the gym leader. Now he was questioning why they were up so early. It was time to think up an excuse. Julia volunteered.

"I had a nightmare," Julia lied, raising her hand sheepishly, "so I woke these two up to make sure I didn't go into a panic." The two sixteen-year-olds nodded along to her story, observing Luke's reaction to make sure he bought the ploy.

To their surprise, it seemed as though he believed them. Hard blue eyes softened, and tensed shoulders relaxed. "I'm sorry you had a nightmare." he said, moving to the sink to fill a water bottle. "If you need someone else to talk to about them, I'm here too. I've had pretty constant nightmares for years, ended up learning a few tricks to make them easier to deal with. I can try to teach them to you if you want." Luke spoke with his back to the trio, his stance almost unreadable. It seemed like he was being honest, at least with how the tension dropped from the room.

Another silent conversation passed between the three as Luke turned the faucet on. The three might be able to use this to their advantage, get more information from the foreign teen. Then Julia cleared her throat. "It was just one nightmare. If I have more, I'll definitely let you know." It did have a small chance of backfiring, since Julia would actually have to come up with a nightmare to 'have,' and it was possible that Luke might sniff out the dishonesty. They could worry about that later though.

Three sets of eyes watched Luke place the water bottles he filled into a day pack before swinging it onto his shoulders as he walked to the door. "See y'all later, I've got to get to my breakfast meeting." Then he left.

It would be another four hours until they were supposed to meet Norman, so they did what any reasonable teen would do. They agreed to talk about what had happened later and went back to sleep to make up for the hours they missed waiting for Luke to come out of his room.

To Luke's surprise and delight, the PokeCenter food in Hoenn was leagues better than what they served in Unova. The blue-eyed boy marveled at how it tasted like _actual food_ as he sat across from Wally, pale blue eyes shining as he carefully and methodically ate the breakfast that had been carefully portioned for him, downing the medicine and vitamin supplements with a glass of MooMoo Milk, imported from Johto. The two didn't have much room for conversation over the meal, with Luke cramming the food into his mouth as though to verify that the food from a PokeCenter was _actually_ as good as his taste buds were telling him it was and Wally's deliberate bites. In all, breakfast took nearly an hour once they had started eating.

Once they finished their food, the pair left the center's cafeteria and began walking towards the eastern outskirts of Petalburg city. Wally still wasn't sure what had made Luke's energy and attitude change, but he was glad that it stuck. The warmth and power leaking from the older teen invigorated Wally, so much that he almost couldn't feel the tight pain in his chest and joints. For the first time in a long time, Wally felt truly alive.

"Hey Wally," Luke said after almost an hour of walking in companionable silence, nearing the border between the city and the wilds, "there are some beginning trainers along the path to get to where we'd catch you a pokemon."

Wally perked up, wondering why the older teen would mention the younger trainers along the path, trainers that Wally had once gone to school with. Trainers who were able and aloud to train pokemon. Trainers who pitied but didn't understand him. Luke turned his head to look Wally in the eyes, looking down due to the several inch height difference.

"Do you want to see some pokemon battles?"

Wally's face split into a wide, infectious grin.

* * *

Julia and Brendan were ecstatic to see their father when they met with him for lunch, May tagging along with her friends. Norman was treating them to food at one of the nicer restaurants near the gym that served Johtian food. The gym leader had been regaling them of his most recent battles at the gym while waiting for their meal.

They were sitting on the restaurant's patio, enjoying the autumnal air. "Well, enough about me, let them out," Norman said, spreading his arms wide before motioning to their belts, "show me what pokemon my children have caught in their first month on the road."

"It's been closer to six weeks dad." Brendan said as he took the pokeball and the quick ball off of his belt. "Treecko, Wingull, come on out."

Julia took the two pokeballs off her own belt, letting them drop from her fingers. "Oliver, Chocolate, look sharp."

As the four basic pokemon materialized, Norman gave his son a funny look. "Treecko and Wingull? You haven't named your pokemon?"

Brendan shrugged. "Why would I? They're my friends and battle partners no matter what I call them. I didn't think they needed pet names."

"It isn't about them being pet names. It's about the bond between you and your teammates deepening, forming a special connection that you could never have with another pokemon with each individual member of your party." Norman said, his own hand dropping to a battered, weathered timer ball at his hip. "From the moment I caught him I knew King would be a lifelong friend, and he hasn't failed me yet. There isn't a single pokemon I've trained that hasn't had a name, and I would put my life in almost any of their hands. That being said…" Norman beckoned the pokemon over to him, and all four came to him at their trainer's nod, "you sure do have some fine-looking teammates here. I'm sure they'll take you as far as you want to go."

After the waiter had dropped off their courses, their father decided to change the subject. "So, the two of you finally managed to convince your mom to let you out," he said, a chuckle escaping his mouth as he picked up his Miltank burger, "just how did you manage to do that?"

Heat crept up the siblings' necks as May laughed at their awkwardness. "Well," Brendan started, playing with the potato wedges on his plate, "it wasn't actually us who convinced her."

"It was the other trainer that's been traveling with us. He's from Unova, said he came here for a fresh start." Julia finished for her brother, sensing he was going to leave the answer hanging. "He's pretty good from what we've seen, but he hasn't told us or shown us any of his old team. And he acts kind of sus sometimes, a bit weird sometimes. He can be really cold and suddenly soften up or go from calm to dodgy in an instant."

Julia's father straightened in his chair. "You said he's from Unova? And what exactly do you mean by suspicious?"

The tension spike at the table was incredible, it almost felt like the father was interrogating the trio. "Well, he does some weird things. Like healing some of the wild pokemon we run into. Or the weirdo training. And there was a night we snuck away from camp to find out where he went and he was calling someone in Unova, and he mentioned a legendary pokemon."

Coal black eyes hardened. "I don't want to jump to any conclusions here, but I'm glad you brought this to my attention. Do you two remember what was happening in Unova when we visited a year and a half ago?"

Brendan shook his head, he had only been fourteen at the time, and too concerned with all the strange pokemon he was surrounded by and the gym battles they'd gotten to see. "I was a little busy being worried and terrified of something else when we were over there," Julia said, "and I don't really remember much more than that. So…"

"Are you talking about the Team Plasma Incident?" May asked, turning between her food and her friends' parent.

"I am." Norman confirmed. "Again, we don't want to jump to conclusions, you know what they say about assuming-"

"It's not right." Julia, Brendan, and May chorused, cutting the raven-haired man off.

"Well, yes, but my point is, ever since their defeat a few months ago the remnants of the terrorist group known as Team Plasma have either gone into hiding or fled the region. And there's a chance that the boy traveling with you is was a member of Plasma."

The rookies were terrified. Could Luke really be an ex-Plasma member? He wouldn't come out and admit it if he was, and they had no definitive way to find out. May was the first to shake her head. "I mean, I guess anything is possible, but the entire ideal of Team Plasma was pokemon liberation, right? Luke is a competitive pokemon battler, it isn't hard to see that he enjoys it. And pokemon battles are antithetical to those ideals, right?"

The older man shook his head slowly. "I probably shouldn't be telling you this. That was their public front, yes, but it was all a front to hide the intentions of tearing down the pokemon league and replacing it with a militaristic government. Or so they say. No footage of the protest at the league tournament survived to be fact checked." Norman let out a rumbling laugh. "Although there's very little chance of the boy you met being ex-Plasma. He's more than likely someone who just wanted to stretch his legs, explore the larger world. Did you kids know that I traveled through four regions before I realized how much I loved Hoenn?"

Normal conversation resumed, talking about pokemon battles and the Battle Tent fad that was cropping up in a few cities around the region. However, the idea that Luke was an ex member of Team Plasma twisted the trio's guts throughout the rest of the meal.

* * *

Luke had expected Wally to need constant breaks from the walking and excitement of battling. If anything, the sick boy looked _better_ for the exposure. His face carried more color, and his coughs came less often and with less intensity. The brown-haired boy wasn't sure if Wally was putting up an act to make him feel better about possibly risking Wally's life, but the younger boy seemed genuine, and happy.

They took a break around three o'clock for a packed meal of sandwiches, Luke supplementing his with a protein bar and Wally with his medicine and vitamins.

Luke hadn't been challenged by one of the local trainers in about an hour, the younger teens not wanting to throw away prize money to the boy they'd just seen blow through a legion of other trainers without losing a single match, none of which were close. The older teen just seemed _better_. And Wally knew that they were right.

The pair was getting close to the point where the road to the city turned into smooth grass and forests, where Luke knew they'd start encountering wilds that Wally could catch. Then the two saw a flash of teal and red bolt out of the trees, giving off a cry similar to that of a small child.

Luke only had time to register that the Ralts had the wrong color combination-a shiny-before Wally sprinted after the feeling pokemon, going into the forest. The older boy reached out to stop him, but Wally was already several yards ahead. Since when could Wally move that fast? He certainly hadn't when Luke had to tank a Zigzagoon's attack when Rebecca dodged out of the way so that Wally wouldn't get hit.

"Swords damn it," Luke cursed as he took off after the boy and the shiny. Wally's sudden burst of speed was impressive, but it couldn't compare to the years of conditioning Luke had put himself through both before and on his adventure in Unova.

At least, it shouldn't have. Purely by physical ability Luke should have overtaken the younger boy five minutes ago, yet he was barely keeping up. It couldn't just be an adrenaline boost, else he would have been able to dodge the attack earlier in the day. Luke's eyes narrowed as he shot glances around the surroundings. No slight distortion in the air to indicate a trick room effect, no Wally look alike to suggest it was a double team or transform ploy, and Luke's eyes had hardly left the green-haired boy since he began to run, so it being a sketch copy didn't make sense either. Then he saw it: a faint purple ripple coming from Wally's feet. As though a pokemon had baton passed agility to the boy. But that wasn't right something was off with the boy and the Ralts.

Having identified the probable source of Wally's speed, Luke spread out his senses to the rest of his surroundings and realized that something else was very wrong. Trees were scratched in a pattern, a faint acrid odor in the air, small clumps of dark fur stuck to low-hanging branches and bushes. Dark blue eyes widened. They were in danger. Both Wally and the pokemon he was chasing. Resigning himself to the burning in his legs he knew he would feel afterwards, Luke tucked his head down and picked his pace up to a sprint.

He caught up to the pokemon/human pair after another five minutes in a clearing where a boulder stuck out of the ground at an angle, providing shelter should something lie beneath it. The acidic scent had grown stronger, and clumps of fur littered the clearing. Luke immediately summoned Rebecca, leaving Franz in his pokeball. "Wally, what in the name of the everloving chasm were you thinking?" He panted out, head on a swivel even as he doubled over, resting his hands on his knees.

Wally had the decency to look winded, despite the agility boost Luke was positive he had received. "She, she was scared, I had to help her," he defended, motioning to the shiny Ralts, which was cowering beside the boulder, "she'd be in danger if I didn't follow her."

Luke's thighs were burning, the balls of his feet sore from sprinting for so long on uneven ground, over roots and around trees. "In case you haven't noticed Wally," the taller teen managed in what was almost an even voice, "now we're all in danger." Luke straightened to his full, average height and faced away from the rock, into the woods they'd just emerged from. A pack of Poochyena stalked out, with three Mightyena leading them. The center Mightyena was bulkier and longer than the others.

"But we aren't in danger." Wally said, pale blue eyes looking into Luke's. "You're here, you can protect us. You're way more powerful than they are."

Luke paused for a moment, eyes never leaving the hyena pack closing in. He didn't really know what to make of Wally's statement. "Wally, can you keep a secret?"

Wally's response was cut off as one of the Poochyena made a dash for the Ralts. Rebecca jumped directly into it and knocked it to the ground, pounding it unconscious in a single swipe of her tail. Another one of the hyena pups ran at Luke, jumping up, lunging at Luke's throat. Luke's fist smashed into its eye as soon as it was within arm's length. "I don't like hurting pokemon, either wild or trained. But I will protect myself and my friends. So Wally." Luke said, still facing away from the younger boy. "Can you keep a secret?"

The left Mightyena dashing forward, cutting off Wally's response. It would have to do. Luke's left arm shot out toward the Mightyena, blood flying when the two made contact.

Time seemed to slow down for Wally. The hyena tasted blood as it brought its jaws down on the human's fragile arm, feeling the bone within crack. Poochyena began to mob Rebecca, the grass type barely able to avoid being buried by the wilds. The two remaining Mightyena began to streak forward, barely more than blurs of black and grey. Luke's right arm was in his hip pack, fingers tightening around one of the orbs it contained. Wally's eyes were flying between the Ralts and the trainer.

Wally could feel it again. The storm of power and confidence around Luke. It was fiercer than anything Wally had felt before, like a hurricane had formed around the other teen. But Wally and the Ralts were in the eye of the storm, shielded by its fury. On one level, Wally was terrified of what he saw. It was two humans and a Treecko against a pack of Poochyena and three Mightyena. The humans had no chance, they should die out here.

But Wally had faith in Luke, in the power that he projected, consciously or not. He didn't understand what exactly it was, but it made Wally feel secure, so he put all his faith into it.

Time began to move again, and everything exploded in a flash of darkness.

"GOJIRA!" Luke cried out, hurling the dusk ball in front of the approaching Mightyena. The following roar cowed all the attacking pokemon enough that Luke's arm was released from the Mightyena's jaws.

The battle was over within a moment as Luke recalled his pokemon. The corpses of the Mightyena littered the battlefield and the terrified howls of the fleeing Poochyena faded into the forest. The trainer immediately began administering potion to Rebecca, who barely survived the assault.

_This_, Wally thought as he fell forward, losing consciousness as the energy toll finally hit him, _this is Luke's true power_.

Blue eyes watched the boy fall, then looked at the sky. It was far too late to make it back to the city in the condition they were in, so they'd have to buckle down and take shelter here for the night. Luke winced as he dragged Wally under the shelter of the rock. The wound on his arm was bad. Punctures from where the teeth had entered his flesh, and Luke recognized what a broken wrist felt like. At least based on full, albeit painful, movement of his left hand, it was only cracked, not a full break or shatter. The Ralts moved over to where Luke had laid Wally and laid down next to the boy, falling asleep instantly. Luke climbed on top of the rock and began tending his wound. He would need a damn good story to explain to Norman why he had taken Wally so far and spent the night in the wild. So he got to thinking how to put what had happened.

* * *

/AN/ Sue me for wanting to make Wally getting his Ralts exciting. I wanted to actually make Wally mean something here, so I went for it. Besides, in the games, his sickness doesn't really act like an actual disease. He got better once he started journeying and battling and putting his body through stressful situations? That doesn't make sense. To be fair, what I have here doesn't really make sense either, but what the heck, I'm trying for something here. I also wanted to include at least one scene where a pokemon Luke smuggled in got to flex, so I did. Even though if we want to be real, it was Wally who flexed with his supreme confidence.

Drop a review, or PM me if you're more comfortable messaging just me instead of making your comment public. I can't say it'll make me write or update faster, but I'd be more than happy to listen to your thoughts about what I'm doing here. Since I'm new to this whole writing thing. Most of my storytelling comes from writing and playing D&D campaigns where the other players help tell the story. And from rambling about different AU's and theories with my friends. So drop a line! Communication is key after all.

Anyway, I'll be gone until I'm back again. Stay safe y'all.


	8. Chapter 8

When Wally woke up, Luke had put his jacket back on in place of his vest. "What happened to the wilds?" He asked in a confused daze, looking around the clearing, no trace of the hyena pack left to be seen. The shiny Ralts came-to in unison with the green-haired boy. A small fire was going, Luke roasting something over it on a spit he'd constructed from branches.

"Do you not remember?" Luke asked, dark blue eyes searching Wally. When the younger boy shook his head no, the trainer breathed in relief. "I managed to chase them off between Rebecca and Franz. Franz used howl to shake them up then he and Rebecca cleaned up what was left. I helped." Luke gave the Ralts a side-eyed glance before passing Wally a luxury ball. "Also, you caught your first pokemon, go ahead and make it official."

Wally took the ball and gently pressed it to the shiny's horn. The device gave a clear _ding_ as soon as the pokemon was fully inside the pokeball. It was immediately sent back out. "Guinevere." The boy said simply, before his body was wracked by a coughing fit.

"Yeah, I figured that would start up again soon. Let's get you home."

The image of Wally walking beside his Ralts gave Luke a feeling of familiar uncomfortability. He dug in his day pack for a moment before pulling an extra hat out, handing it to Wally. "You're a full trainer now, with a pokemon and everything. One of my best friends gave me my ball cap when I first started, so I'm passing on the favor. Go ahead, try it on."

Wally took the hat and inspected it. It was a plain, black cap with a white front above the bill. He tightened it slightly and placed it on top of his head, turning to Luke with arms spread wide as if to ask 'How do I look?'

Between the glow in his eyes and the already devoted little pokemon beside him, Wally was the picture of enthusiasm. But now that he had the cap, Luke could finally confirm it. The cap, the light green hair, finding a pokemon in need and doing anything to help it. Wally looked just like _him_.

Luke couldn't suppress the shudder that wracked his body. His eyes hardened, seeing something that wasn't in his surroundings, before refocusing. All of his senses wen on high alert. He would get Wally back to safety and wouldn't be surprised by anything. The wilds might as well be his home, his castle. And he would not tolerate any more of his own mistakes here. No holding back until they were back in civilization.

* * *

The rookies were starting to get worried. Luke had been gone for three days now, his only message to them was to not worry and keep training against the youngsters, even if it was for no prize money. Which they had done. But now he wasn't picking up his X-Transceiver or answering the messages they'd sent him in the group chat. The idea of him being ex-Plasma was only making it worse.

The second day he'd been missing the trio went to the eastern outskirts instead, training against a new set of youngsters and a dojo of martial artists training on Petalburg beach. Neither of them had lost a match yet, and their confidence continued to climb.

"Soon enough we'll be strong enough that we don't need to travel with Luke anymore." Brendan said as he spread his arms, motioning to the trainers they had beaten easily. "I mean, look at how strong we are already."

Brendan and Julia were on the video phone with their mother when they both received a ping on their Pokedex's, seeing a message from May. She saw Luke walking toward the Petalburg Hospital, and apparently looked awful. After finishing the call with their mother and assuring her for what was surely the hundredth time that they were doing well and unharmed, they set out for the hospital, joining May outside its doors before going in.

"Excuse us ma'am." Julia said, taking charge as the three approached the receptionist, "We think our friend just checked in, his name is Luke Williams. Could you tell us what room he's in?"

The receptionist was a woman in what appeared to be her mid to late twenties with blonde curls going down to the base of her neck. She was dressed plainly in lilac scrubs, except for a blue bandana with an 'A' emblazoned on it in white tied around her right arm. She looked at the teens for a moment before pressing several keys on her desk, eyes back on her monitor. "You said Lucas Williams?" Julia nodded, but the receptionist was still looking at her monitor.

"Yeah, he's our friend. We didn't know where he was until we saw him walk towards here about an hour ago." Julia said. "We lost track of him a couple days ago, and he wasn't answering his messages."

"Third floor, room 6. Do you have his billing address? He didn't provide one when he came in."

This time it was Brendan's turn to shake his head. "We met him on the road, don't know where he lives. You'll have to ask him."

The receptionist nodded and motioned them toward the elevator without turning away from her monitor. The three teens thanked her and rode up to the third floor. They heard Luke's voice before they arrived at the room's door. "I already told you, I'm not getting a cast put on for a little fracture on my radius. I'll be fine." For someone who preached maintaining safety and preparation when they were out in the wilds Luke sure didn't seem to take his own advice to heart.

The trio approached the voice, and heard the doctor say something in a placating tone. The door had a plaque that simply had the number 6 on it and was slightly ajar. May stepped forward, knocking on the door frame as Julia pushed the door open.

Inside the room, Luke sat on the doctor's observation table shirtless. The eyes of the trio were first drawn to the sterile bandages wrapped tightly around his left arm before moving to his chest and abdomen. The senior trainer's athletic body was covered in scars big and small, the most prominent ones being a large pink burn scar covering the greater part of his right chest, stretching down to the bottom of his ribs and a starburst of raised skin about the size of Luke's palm just below the left side of his ribs.

Heat crept up Luke's neck and into his face as the three shamelessly stared at the scars with morbid fascination. "Uh, hey guys. What's up?"

Brendan was the first to gather his wits as Julia and May couldn't break their gazes away from Luke's torso, feeling a stab of jealousy over May's flushed face. "May saw you walking over hear about an hour ago, so she messaged us and we came to get you." Brendan explained, hoping his voice would break the stupor that his friend and sister were in. No dice. "What happened to you?" He asked, motioning at the bandages his senior's arm was wrapped in.

The boy in question waved his hand as though to dismiss the question. "Oh, it's nothing too bad, I've had worse."

"That isn't exactly comforting," May said as her hand shot out and grabbed the older teen's bandaged wrist, trying to get a closer look at the appendage. Luke hissed in pain and wrenched his arm free as soon as she had gripped it.

Small spots of red appeared and began to grow on the bandage from the sudden actions as Luke held the injured arm tight to his chest. "Let's ask before we grab an injured area, sound good?" It was more of a demand than a question, his tone harsh.

May nodded meekly, her curiosity cowed by the hard edge Luke's voice had adopted. Silence reigned in the room for several moments until the doctor spoke up. "Well, regardless of how bad you've managed to injure yourself before, having a cast put on the wrist is still the best option for an expedited recovery, unless you'd prefer a sling."

Luke sighed as he turned his attention back to the doctor. "I know what I'm asking and if it were any worse, I'd have the cast put on in a heartbeat. As it stands it's just a hairline fracture and I still have full mobility in my hand, even if it isn't entirely comfortable, so I'll just deal with it until it heals, I really don't need a cast slowing me down."

The doctor raised his hands in a placating gesture. "I can't force you to have the cast put on. But I will have to get you to fill out your billing information here or at reception, rabies shots and vaccines aren't cheap." The doctor offered the trainer a clipboard and pen.

"Dubs is going to have my head for this." Luke muttered under his breath, barely loud enough for Julia to catch. Judging by Brendan and May's attention remaining on the scars and their bodies not immediately going tense, only Julia had caught the words he muttered as he filled out the paperwork.

After another hour of paperwork and Luke talking to different doctors and nurses, the four trainers finally left the hospital. Julia was about to ask the other eighteen-year old about Dubs, since she heard him say it in a place that wouldn't have meant spying on him but May got her question out first.

"So, what Mightyena den did you fall into to get your wrist broken?" the younger girl asked. Luke flinched and scratched the back of his neck with his uninjured hand.

"Funny choice of words you used there, Mightyena den." Luke said. He was met with three incredulous looks. "I stumbled into one by accident the day I left, got ambushed by the pack," he lifted his bandaged arm, "and one of the Mightyena decided that my arm looked rather tasty. Interesting thing about canine pokemon though. Once they grab something, they don't like to let go of it, even if that thing starts bashing it's head in."

"And you managed to bash its head in before it ripped your arm off from the elbow down?" Brendan was skeptical. He had picked up on Luke's amazing reaction speed and his sense to know when and where wild pokemon would appear. But this was a different matter. The pokemon supposedly already had the drop on Luke, already bit him. Something was off.

"The rock was already in my hand." He said as though it answered all of their remaining questions. It did not. Something was off about the way Luke was talking. Julia was sure of it. Except she couldn't pinpoint what exactly was different. He wasn't hesitating, all his responses were given precisely after the question was asked. The timing of his movements and speech, it was almost like it was structured to appear casual like in a performance, as though the other teen had rehearsed this routine. Then it hit Julia.

Luke had practiced this. He was lying to them, and she knew it. The steel eyed girl just couldn't prove it. Yet. She'd figure it out later with Brendan and May. As they were nearing the PokeCenter lodging, Julia dropped the question she's meant to ask earlier.

"So, who's Dubs?"

Looks of shock and panic flashed across Brendan and May's faces and Luke tripped over the flat surface when she asked. "Where did you hear that name?" Luke's voice was measured, cold and smooth. Like a vanilla milkshake. Except it carried the threat of legitimate danger instead of a brain-freeze.

"You said his name when the doctor gave you the bill." The younger trainers' faces smoothed into curiosity, although their eyes still held panic. Julia put on her best innocent face as Luke turned to look at her, one of his hands in his hip pack.

He gave a big sigh that suddenly became a laughter from the core of his being, blue eyes bright with mirth. "Wait wait wait wait. He? _He_? Oh, please, please address her as 'Sir,' or 'mister' if you ever meet her, her face would be hilarious."

Three pairs of eyes blinked in confusion. This was the farthest thing from the reaction they had been expecting. Not that Dubs was a girl, with a name like that it was an even chance of them being either male or female. But that it made Luke, normally the stoic, burst out laughing.

He managed to calm down after a couple of minutes. "Dubs is one of my closest friends from back home. She's something really special, lofty dreams and never giving up until she finds them." Luke's gaze became distant as he looked into the clouds above them. "I've always admired them for it."

Julia felt a pang of jealousy. She didn't understand why. This girl was thousands of miles away, Luke had said he wasn't dating anyone, and just called this girl a friend. And she knew that she was just latching onto Luke because he was helping her escape into freedom. That he was attractive was beside the point in this case. It just made the infatuation easier to justify.

Meanwhile, May caught on to Julia's face flushing a bright pink, and shot the other girl a knowing smile. "Sounds like someone has a crush~"

Blue eyes snapped back to reality in an instant. "On Dubs? Oh heck no. That woman is a force of nature, and bossy as all hell to boot." Luke paused for a second, giving a small laugh as he shook his head. "Besides, she's engaged to my best friend, and I'd toss myself in front of a Buffolant stampede before I did anything to hurt either of them or their happiness."

The sincerity of his words rang true with Julia. He was being entirely honest, at least as far as she could tell, and the way he was talking reminded her of when he allowed himself to be questioned. He was being genuine. For some reason, it didn't surprise the girl to realize that she liked him being honest and open with his speech.

"Plus she's my boss. And I'm changing the subject before I end up telling you all the stupid stuff she's made us do."

The trio's disappointment was palpable. Their curiosity had been inflamed by the new information only to be denied. At least the explanation had made him being ex-Plasma less likely? Even if he called his boss by a codename and wouldn't talk about what he did for her, or what the company did, the only hint being that they didn't have it in Hoenn.

* * *

The group only stayed in Petalburg for another three days, during which Luke left everyday just before noon to 'check in on something.' It really did seem like he was just making an excuse to step away from the rookies. They didn't mind too much, it gave them time to spend with Norman.

Julia was fairly sure that the exits had something to do with the injured arm being worse off than Luke wanted to admit. May was more or less on the same page. Brendan was more suspicious. He thought the older teen was sneaking off to contact the Plasma remnants back in Unova at a more reasonable time than he had in the wilds.

The information and assumptions that came from their senior trainer talking about Dubs had divided the group. May had never really thought there was a risk of the teen being from Plasma. The sincerity and openness he'd displayed convinced Julia that he wasn't an ex-terrorist.

Brendan saw it differently. The chocolate-eyed boy was focused on the information that Luke hadn't been so willing to share. What he did for Dubs, what kind of company he worked for in Unova, the actual names of his friends and contacts in the other region. Plus the casual dismissal of danger and injury to himself, as though he were expendable in his own mind, simply a cog in the greater machine. Like an office worker becomes resigned to their cubicle, or a soldier acknowledging that if he failed the next one would step in. To Brendan it was a sign of indoctrination into the paramilitary organization that Team Plasma had been.

The western outskirts of the city were a breeze for the four trainers once they set out, Luke leading the way with a map of the surrounding area pulled up on his X-Transceiver. The trainers were what Julia and Brendan had come to expect around their father's city.

The first morning back in the wilds Julia was woken up by the sounds of a scuffle outside her tent, accented by avian squawks and the distinctive bark of a Poochyena. She rushed out of her tent in her sleeping clothes just in time to see the indicative red capture beam absorb a Tailow, which she assumed to have been the source of the squawking, into a fast ball.

She looked around for the only one who woke up this early, the fingers of dawn beginning to turn night into morning. Luke stood by his bedroll, since there hadn't been any convenient trees to suspend his hammock from, about fifteen meters from where the ball rocked back and forth before offering the signature *ding* of a successful capture. Franz eagerly picked up the ball and ran it to his trainer, dropping it at his feet.

Blue eyes glowed in approval as Luke gave affectionate pats to the dark type. Then he noticed the girl standing across the site from him, offering her a small smile. "Little Shigure decided it'd be fun to try and take some of my hair for his nest. He and Franz had a fundamental disagreement of where exactly it should be." Luke shrugged. "Franz won."

In the pause after Luke spoke, Julia admired how relaxed and at home he seemed. This is where he excelled. Not in teaching or interacting with the rookies, but out here battling when nobody else was awake. The ease in his stance, the happy Poochyena darting around his feet, the way his eyes shone with pride for his pokemon.

For the first time, Julia recognized the confidence that her mentor carried himself with. Quiet confidence and power, sure of himself but not arrogant. Luke was comfortable here in a way that neither Brendan nor May nor Julia herself was. Then she realized why she hadn't seen him like this before: his guard was completely down. He was entirely open, either supremely confident in his skills to react or trustful that nothing else was coming. This meant one of two things for what he thought about her: he either believed whole-heartedly that he could easily beat her or he trusted her enough to drop his guard when she was there. The two conflicting possibilities made her uncomfortable in incredibly different ways.

Luke turned on his X-Transceiver to check the map. "If we trust the map, we'll hit the Petalburg Woods by this afternoon," he said, one hand still petting Franz, "but once we're in there, there's no telling how long it'll take to get out, woods are tricky. Probably want to distribute the antidotes and stick close." She realized he was speaking both in plural and to himself. Unless he was referencing the hyena pup whose paw was thumping a small crater into the ground. Knowing Luke, he probably was talking to his pokemon.

* * *

Julia was disappointed when the others woke up and left their tents, watching Luke withdraw into himself again, the openness gone. After a cold breakfast, the group started hiking. True to his prediction, the trainers arrived at the trail's entrance to Petalburg Woods shortly after noon.

"So," Brendan said, "if all of this is Petalburg Woods, why couldn't we have entered and started moving through back there?" He gestured vaguely to the woods behind the group. "This doesn't make much sense."

"The forest is too dense back there, with nothing that resembles a trail for us to follow. The soil in this direction," Luke said, lightly digging his foot into the dirt, "is more difficult for the trees to grow in, meaning a thinner forest with more light coming through the canopy. Also the trail provides a decent starting point for entering, even if it supposedly disappears rather quickly." The brunet unclipped his bag and set it down, opening the main compartment to pass each of the rookies small cases with three syringes in them, a yellow-brown fluid visible through the clear plastic and glass. "We all need to have these antidotes on us in case we or our pokemon get poisoned. Dense forests like this are ideal breeding grounds for the different types of venomous bugs and poison pokemon alike. Especially with how blasted hot it is." He slipped his own case into his hip pack before hefting his pack into its spot on his back.

Julia and Brendan felt a little guilty watching their mentor deal with his stuffed pack, still carrying both of their tents and most of their gear. The pack, which weighed about twenty pounds when the teen arrived in Littleroot, was now closer to fifty based on what he was carrying for the two less experienced trainers. They really did need to get actual packs when they arrived in Rustboro.

It only took two hours of hiking in the woods for the rookies to feel entirely lost, no matter what Luke said about knowing the way either back to Petalburg or towards the stream he claimed he was leading them towards. Luke called a break when he noticed the doubt on their faces, May scratching at something on her forehead, underneath her bandana. Then his eyes narrowed, and his hand crept toward his belt.

Julia noticed the change and started looking around worriedly for the threat. She had no idea how, but he could always tell when something was coming. Then he reached out and put his hand on May's cheek, turning her head to get a better look at the side of her face, frowning as his other hand slipped into his hip pack.

Brendan was about to move to slap the older trainer's hand away from his friend but was stopped by his sister. Julia wasn't sure what the senior trainer was doing, but she assumed he had a reason

"Did something bite you?" he asked, not moving his hand, "You're sweating more than I am, and it looks like a rash is starting to break out just above your eyes, and I'm assuming under your bandana too?"

The younger girl quickly untied her bandana to give Luka a better look. "I don't remember getting bit by anything. It started itching when we passed the tree that had all the mushrooms on it."

Brendan frowned. "But we all passed that tree, shouldn't we all be breaking out?"

"Not necessarily. We don't know if the spores the mushrooms released are toxins or if May here is just having a mild allergic reaction. Either way," he said, drawing one of the antidotes out of his case, "it's better safe than sorry since the antidotes have no adverse effect aside from soreness at the injection site. Are you ready?"

May nodded, so Luke took her arm and pierced her upper arm with the needle before depressing the plunger, pushing the yellow liquid into the girl's body.

"We only have a mile or so until we should hit the stream, will you be good to go that far?" Luke's question was technically to the entire group, but it was directed at May, who gave a single, solid nod. Brendan looked like he was going to protest but stopped when May gave him a small smile.

Sure enough, another mile had the four sitting on the stream bank, having set up their tents about ten meters away from where the land started to dip. Luke had a mesh bug net attached to his hammock, suspended between Julia and Brendan's tents. The four were enjoying a peaceful dinner on the bank in an easy silence.

Then the mushroom jumped out of the creek, making itself comfortable in a small patch of sunlight just a couple feet away from Julia. Brendan and May quickly stood up and stumbled away from the wild, grabbing for their pokeballs. They were stopped by Luke's raised hand, Rebecca, Franz, and Shigure the Tailow were all out, but relaxed. The Shroomish wasn't a threat to them, and Julia seemed to understand that too.

The wild realized it had an audience, and locked eyes with Julia. It was tired of running from the predators in the forest that it knew it couldn't face, so it started hanging nearby passing trainers that the Tailow and Swelow wouldn't dare approach. She had no idea where the idea came from, but she knew it was right. The little pokemon was already so comfortable around humans, it made sense, right?

Without saying a word, Julia offered a great ball to the mushroom, which he readily jumped at. She smiled as she pressed the capture switch, the chime going off within moments. Brendan and May were slack-jawed when she turned back and presented the ball housing the Shroomish to the group. Blue eyes flicked between the orb and the girl's own steel grey.

It wasn't that something was off that made Luke uncomfortable with the situation. It was that something was _right_ with the interaction. It was that something that made no sense seemed right. Luke dismissed the train of thought. He would figure it out later. May and Brendan seemed to agree, trying to adjust to the sudden and unconventional capture by finishing the dinner, chatting about something, and going to their tents. Julia was absorbed by her Shroomish and Luke slipped under his bug net and into his hammock, staring through the net and into the tarp above him, completely zoned out.

Four uneventful days passed as the group made progress through the forest, staying close to the stream as they hiked. Brendan caught a Wurmple in the more traditional sense than his sister and her Shroomish. Similar to the Lotad that had disappeared from his belt, Luke caught a Wurmple. After seeing him catch Shigure, Julia assumed that Luke was catching the pokemon before the rest of the trainers woke up. It would make sense, although the secrecy didn't when he had caught Franz in front of her and Brendan.

Each of the mornings Julia had woken up incrementally earlier, hoping to catch another moment of Luke relaxed with his guard down, but she hadn't managed to get up earlier than May yet. The Steel-eyed girl had considered asking May if she had also seen the teen's shields drop in the morning but decided against it on the strength of avoiding the inevitable teasing that would come. Was it that he only felt he could open up when in one on one situations? Or was it just with her? The thought made her stomach into an acrobat.

It was on that sixth day in the forest that the peaceful hiking and training was interrupted. Rebecca and Franz relaxed on Luke's shoulder and darting around his feet respectively, Chocolate and Oliver play wrestling as they hiked. Brendan's Treecko and May's Torchic happily chirping back and forth from their trainer's arms.

A desperate shout for help to the east of the stream had the four take off in the direction, Luke dropping his pack by the river bank so he wouldn't be weighed down by the cumbersome pack. The rookies followed suit, dropping bags to run uninhibited.

Several minutes later, the four arrived at a clearing, assuming they'd found the originator of the call for help. Four men and a woman in matching black and white stripped shirts and long blue pants stood above a man on the ground, left hand clamped down on a gash on his left arm, his business suit ruined and one of his glasses lens shattered. He had a number of smaller cuts and bruises on his person, clearly the product of his assaulters. The alpha symbol on their bandanas seeming to glare down at the man, as the man with a black bandana opposed to his compatriots' blue, kneeled down next to the man.

"Now now Mr. Business-man, we really didn't want to have to mess you up. And it would be a real shame if we had to do any more." Julia was surprised by the sincerity in his voice. He hadn't actually wanted to hurt the man, but he had anyway. "But we need those plans for our Boss."

None of the rookies had noticed Luke release Shigure to bolster the ranks of his starter and Poochyena, or when he entered the clearing. Julia only snapped out of her shock when Luke took of his vest and wrapped it around his injured wrist and charged toward the attackers.

Cold blue eyes blazed as the trainer dashed forward, feet hardly making a sound on the soft grass. None of the assaulters had noticed his presence until he was on top of them, bringing his knee into the gut of one of the men. He followed it up by sending him into unconsciousness with a savage punch to the man's temple.

A moment of surprise and silence followed the brutal takedown, Luke's pokemon forming up in front of him as he glared at the strangely dressed crew, their attention now solely on the boy in front of them. Until the woman looked to where he came from.

"Hey, isn't that the professor's daughter? I'm sure the boss could get some use out of her dad if we leveraged it right." A feral grin split her face as she looked past Luke. The three with blue bandanas began to move around Luke but paused when the teen growled at them.

"None of you are going near them, and you're going to leave that alone." The man with the black bandana straightened and took a step toward Luke. He was bigger than Luke, probably 6'2" or so. But the boy's blue glare unnerved him more than he would ever admit.

"You three get the girl, I'll handle the wannabe hero." He spoke with confidence he should have felt but didn't. His Mightyena and Crowbat would be more than enough to deal with this shrimp.

Luke turned back towards the group, seeing them step into the clearing, prepared to try and fight the opposing group. "Get out of here! They'll attack you as quick as they'll attack your pokemon!" Seeing their hesitation to leave him, Luke gave them a smile that he didn't really feel. He knew he was better than almost any random trainer or thug, but four on one wasn't good odds for a brawl, and he couldn't summon Gojira or call Heracles from the woods while the rookies were here, and preferably not when the business man was here either. He'd prefer it if he didn't actually need to call on either of them, but it was looking like it wasn't going to be an option. "I'll be fine. This is my job, remember?!"

"Get her!" the man with the black bandana shouted as he pulled a pokeball from his belt.

Brendan grabbed May's wrist and took off back into the forest. Julia followed close behind her brother, shooting one last glance to Luke. The three subordinates took off after the teens. The business man took off in the opposite direction.

The man pulled back his arm to throw the pokeball. "You'll regret ever getting in Team Aqua's way!"

Luke's hand shot out, knocking the ball out of the man's hand with an empty ball from his hip pack. The Mightyena was released behind the man instead of in front as the two humans began to grapple, Luke digging in elbows and fists into the larger man's torso as the Aqua member tried to put the teen in a headlock, the pokemon began to brawl behind them.

The teen knew that the other man was stronger than him, and that he'd have to be careful with his injured left arm, bandages hidden beneath the vest he'd protectively wrapped the arm in before. The fight lasted for nearly ten minutes before the man managed to wrap his arm around Luke's throat, fishing at his belt for his Crobat's pokeball as he choked the teen out. Rebecca, Franz, and Shigure barely faring any better against the evolved dark type. Things were getting desperate.

Luke raised a hand into the air, his fingers giving a single, loud snap that seemed to linger in the air a tad longer than it should have. As soon as the Crobat was released, Luke was freed from the chokehold as a spout of blood erupted from the Aqua's side, staining Luke's shirt. Heracles would make short work of the remaining combatants, so Luke recalled his other pokemon before kneeling next to the man.

"He's trained not to kill, but that wound will end up being lethal if you don't get it treated. So get out of here, and quit all the Buffolantshit. You're a decent fighter, make something of it."

Luke stalked out of the clearing in the direction the rookies went, winded from the fight and nearly being choked into unconsciousness. He gave Heracles two pats on the head before sending him back into the woods as an unseen guardian. The teen knew he wouldn't be catching up to the other teens quickly without running, so he sighed and resigned himself to the burning his legs would be going through shortly and ran in the direction of the bags the four had dropped. It might not have been his intention when he arrived in Hoenn, but protecting those rookies was his responsibility, and they weren't accustomed to the kind of fight they were in for.

About half-way back to the bags, their trail split away, with the Aqua grunts presumably just behind them. Luke took off after them, eyes glued to the trail they'd left behind. He would protect them. He would not allow their dreams to go to waste.

* * *

/AN/ So, that was chapter 8. Enter Team Aqua I guess. Let me know what you think, drop a review, PM, carrier pigeon, or smoke signal. Whatever goats you float I guess, but do let me know what you think of the story, characters, actions, or scenes.

If you know what pokemon Gojira and Heracles are, go ahead and let me know! Although please do it in a PM in case someone doesn't know. Vicer Thicer Ricer, I'm looking at you. Don't spoil it for anyone out there, no matter how well you know what they are.

As for Aqua, well, if they need something from the Devon employee so badly, why did they only send one grunt after it? So here they sent a grunt team with a head grunt to fetch it. Of course he didn't actually have a Mightyena and Crobat, but their entire team walking strapped with basic pokemon, again, just doesn't make much sense.

Now, onto a new segment of the show titled **Za Warudo**, or The World for those without a background in either memes or JJBA. In this segment, Dragonsaurus will either break down or introduce parts of the world his story takes place in. I did this in a couple chapters earlier, but it didn't have a name and I felt like including a meme.

So…**ZA WARUDO!**

So Pokedexes are rare. Incredibly so. But they aren't as rare as in the anime, manga, or games where only one to three people in a region has them. Instead, I'm ballparking and saying that there are just under 100 or so in the world, spread out between the 7 current regions, the prototypes being introduced by Professor Oak about 15 years ago, with other regions' professors making alterations with the aid and consent of Oak. So having a Dex does not always mean you're destined for some fantastic adventure, but by coincidence all the recent stand-out trainers have had Pokedexes.

The note has begun to move again.

Anyway, I'll be gone until I'm back again. Stay safe y'all.


	9. Chapter 9

The goons were hot on their tail. Brendan had started by running toward their packs by the stream, hoping they'd be able to out distance the older trainers through sheer athleticism. No such luck, they had barely gained any ground, and getting their packs would slow them down. So Julia took the lead and began heading north, where the exit of the woods was supposed to be if they kept following the stream as Luke had intended.

It seemed to be working, with the trees getting sparser the further they went. Then a pokeball opened above them, a Poocyena tackling Brendan from the air, sending both to the dirt. Brendan's Treecko immediately jumped forward into a melee with the dark type to give Brendan time to stand up and get away.

Instead, the rookies released all of their pokemon as they turned around to face off against their pursuers. The woman laughed as she pulled another pokeball from her belt. "You really shouldn't have run. Rick would have kept all of you alive, but we only need the girl." A dangerous glint shone in her eyes, "For all he knows you other two got away but were too scared to report it to the officials."

"We're not killing anyone Sal," said the man to her left, "that isn't what Aqua is about. Neither is torturing kids for what we can get from their parents." The speaker stepped forward, dark hair peeking out from under his bandana, complimenting his bronze skin. "I'm Yosh, and I mean it when I say that we don't want to hurt you guys, the guy back there wasn't supposed to get hurt either, just victims of circumstance. Believe me, we just need to talk to you."

She didn't know the man, didn't know any of his tells, but Julia's gut told her that the man was trying to deceive them. "I don't believe you. Just get out of here, we're just kids, we don't matter, so leave us alone." Yosh's face fell at her refusal.

Sal laughed at her colleague before dropping her pokeball, releasing another Poochyena, "You pride yourself so much on how well you lie, but this teenaged twit saw through you in zero flat. What a disappointment. Now let's deal with this before Rick finds us and stops our fun."

Brendan, as opposed to the liar across from him, prided himself on his recognition and reaction speed, his ability to understand whatever got thrown at him and adapt to be able to win. Boardgames, sports, battles, you name it. So in a way, he was glad that the knife was thrown at him. He managed to bring his arm up to shield his head and neck just in time for the blade to not impale any vitals, taking it in the arm instead, releasing a cry of pain. If it had been thrown at Julia or May, he wasn't sure they'd have been able to dodge or block it. The goon who hadn't spoken yet had thrown it, trying to use his teammate's argument to distract and eliminate one of them. Judging by the frown on the thrower's face, it was the only knife he had. Brendan tugged it out of his arm and held it in a fist. Brendan was infuriated.

Steel eyes looked between the attacking trio and the seven pokemon in front of the Littleroot rookies, since Brendan's Treecko was still fighting the first Poochyena the uniformed team had sent out. Her own Oliver, Chocolate, and Kord were ready to fight, while May and Brendan's Wurmples left a lot to be desired in the battling department. They still had their starters and Brendan's Wingull though. They could do this. Especially if all the other side had was Poochyenas, the single pokemon species they had the most experience against. The release of three more Poochyena and an odd blue bat with no eyes almost confirmed her hope. Not counting the Wurmples, it was an even fight with regards to numbers.

With regards to strength, the rookies rapidly proved superior. The Wurmple duo had teamed up against the hyena Brendan's Treecko had weakened and were mercilessly tying it up with their string. Treecko, Torchic, and Oliver were each taking on a Poochyena, being the three strongest fighters on their side, despite May's dislike for fighting. Chocolate and Kord were tag-teaming the remaining hyena pup, alternating between blasting poisonous spores in its snout and slamming into it. Brendan's Wingull gave the Zubat hell as it out-maneuvered the bat at every turn. Oliver and Treecko were finished with their opponents.

Julia afforded herself a small smile. It looked like a decisive win. Her confidence could only soar so high until she realized her mistake. The grunts were moving. Yosh grabbed her by the throat and pinned her to the ground, using his other hand to immobilize one of Julia's. Spots danced across her field of vision: she'd be knocked out soon. Just before she faded, the pressure eased suddenly.

* * *

Knife guy made a dash for May, but Brendan tackled him before he could get there, a brawl ensuing between the trainers. The other man was clearly the more experienced fighter, but Brendan had the knife. Gracelessly jamming the knife into the fleshy part of his opponent's thigh, he wailed in pain. "Hurts like a bitch, doesn't it?" Brendan growled, pummeling the other man, splitting his knuckles on his face before switching to something softer. He found such a target in the man's stomach.

The woman tried to approach May from behind but met resistance in the form of Brendan's Treecko slamming into her legs, knocking her to the ground. The gecko attempted to grab onto and drain the woman's energy but was met with a boot to the side, knocking him away. "Stupid grass type. I'll teach you a lesson about trying to grab a woman."

Treecko returned to Plan A: attack the strangers unprotected knee joints. His trainer prioritized protecting the May, so he would do so while his trainer was otherwise occupied. It wasn't hard evading the clumsy human's attacks now, and he brought the full force of his tail down on her joint, satisfied with the crunching sound of the joint being dislocated. The woman screamed in agony before he knocked her out with a blow to the head.

* * *

Julia blinked several times to clear the spots from her vision, and saw Oliver standing over Yosh. The man's neck was at an awkward angle, and with a shudder she realized that her pokemon had killed the human. She knew it was dangerous to be a trainer, but this was the first time she'd experienced death in front of her. Even if he had planned to kill her, her brother, and her friend, was it really alright to kill him in return? She rose to her knees before the severity of what happened hit her.

She hadn't done it directly, but Oliver had done it with no hesitation, just like the Poochyena back on route 101. Tears began to stream from her eyes, mucus oozing from her nostrils. The other human, awful as he had been, was dead. Julia was responsible for the death of another human being, someone with a family and friends out there. She fell forward, catching herself before she hit the ground, and began to retch the contents of her stomach onto the forest soil. It burned her throat as it came up, until there was nothing left to come up. Still, her body wanted to expel whatever was inside, and didn't stop.

Brendan slumped next to the now unconscious knife guy. His knuckles were split open, the rest of his hands were bruised, and blood was leaking freely from the wound in his arm that could have very easily been to his neck. The burning in his muscles from running and the brief brawl practically immobilized him. He tried to stand up, but only succeeded in rolling onto his back, arms spread wide, bleeding into the soil.

That man deserved what Brendan had done to him. For trying to kill him, and for even thinking of attacking May. He couldn't force himself to think about what could have happened if he had allowed May to be attacked, hurt, or worse. The boy on the ground made a promise to himself, one that he would never break. As scared as he had been by the fight, he couldn't help but feel relieved. All three of them were alive. May was safe.

May looked around the battlefield in horror. Three of the Poochyena were dead, the only ones still breathing being the pokemon her Torchic and Wurmple had fought. One of the Zubat's wings was nearly torn off by Brendan's more powerful Wingull. At least Julia's Chocolate and Kord had the decency to look upset and ashamed that they had killed their opponent. Speaking of Julia, May turned to look at her friends.

Julia was on her hands and knees, dry heaving now that her stomach had nothing left to give in between horrid, choking sobs. The corpse of the man who had attempted to kill her cooling barely a meter away from the older teen, Oliver standing between them just in case the body managed to attack from beyond death. Brendan was bloody and breathing heavily, face-up on the ground with an ugly bruise starting to form on his cheek. His Treecko stood over the unconscious woman, her right knee not quite looking like a knee. She was disgusted by the death and injury around her, that she hadn't been able to stop the violence.

Her Torchic pecked at her leg until she picked her up, cradling the ball of feathers and warmth in her arms. She too, made a promise to herself, although entirely different from the one in Brendan's mind just a couple meters away, as she moved to her friend and began to bandage his arm and hands. Once done, she helped lead him beside Julia, whose sobs had stopped, but she hadn't moved, blank steel eyes staring at her own vomit. The two sixteen-year olds put comforting hands on her back and eased her into a sitting position. Time seemed to stretch as they all leaned against each other, passing out from exhaustion as their pokemon kept watch.

* * *

Luke arrived just in time to see May and Brendan move to comfort Julia, but didn't have the heart to face them, remaining hidden behind one of the thicker tree trunks. The corpses drew his attention for a moment as he ghosted around the scene, but he focused on the living instead, identifying the shallow breathing of the two humans. The remaining man's particularly light breaths pointed to broken ribs, the swollen and bloody state of his face matched up with Brendan's knuckles wrapped in clean bandage strips. The woman's knee had been brutalized, either dislocated or shattered, blue eyes couldn't discern its severity. The discoloration over her temple seemed to be the cause of her unconsciousness. The pokemon in various states of injury, Luke finally stepped onto the battlefield.

He had to dodge the Oliver's blind rush, grabbing the mudfish as he went past, pinning it to the ground with superior weight before looking into its soot black eyes. "Calm down Oliver. Just because your trainer is unconscious doesn't mean you can attack a friend." Luke released the water type, who tuned his eyes to the ground in what appeared to be shame.

The teen inspected the injured Aqua pokemon before taking their balls from the grunts and recalling them before doing the same for the rookies. "Heracles, you know the drill. Protect them as if they were me." Luke said to the forest as he dragged the two grunts away, wincing at the fire of pain in his wrist as he did so. He kept dragging them for almost ten minutes before he decided it was enough.

This Team Aqua had the potential to be dangerous if left unchecked. So now that he knew the rookies were safe, it was time to get some information. He looked to the two grunts. Killing them wasn't the answer. It almost never was. But he could use this to his advantage, gain good information while providing the other side with falsities.

Luke jogged back to where the other trainers were to drag the dead man to his still living teammates, but not before pilfering his undershirt, sliding the cleaner garment over his head. It was a bit baggy, but it would serve.

Then, he took off his hat and hip pack, gently setting them down out of sight from the grunts. He needed to make sure that they wouldn't recognize him as the same person who had fought their superior, which included temporarily losing his personal effects.

Luke sighed. He hated doing it, but it had to be done. He had to be completely distinct. So he would give them something different to focus on.

Finally, he took the contacts case out of his hip pack and carefully removed the thin pieces of plastic gel and took a few blinks to adjust to their absence. There was nothing wrong with his vision as he prepared to force the grunts to wake up.

When they did, they would be met with a stare from mis-matched eyes: one a cold royal blue, one a gleaming, dangerous silver.

* * *

When the rookies woke the next morning, they were quite surprised to find all of their limbs tangled together in the pile they had made, with a reflective emergency blanket covering them. They were equally surprised to find their pokeballs in a neat line, filled with their respective pokemon, and the scent of food cooking in the air.

Once they had disentangled themselves with a flush and removed the blanket, they looked to Luke who sat next to a small fire. He was roasting skewers of oran and pecha berries, charring the skin in a way that would leave the inside juicy and delicious. Well, at least they hoped it would be good.

"Where happened to the weirdos who attacked us?" Brendan asked as he scooted away from May, carefully avoiding eye contact with the girl, faces about the color of her Torchic's down. "I wanted to find some things out."

The blue-eyed boy waved the question away, much to Brendan's irritation as the older boy dismissed him with a smile. "I took care of them already. We won't have to worry about those guys again." There was a hardness in his eyes that belied his smile. "But we need to have a talk about what happened, both here and back in that clearing."

"Do you really think you can just-" Brendan started to protest.

"Funny thing about my choice of words Brendan," Luke cut the younger boy off, all traces of the smile gone from his face, "I said we needed to have a talk. Not a conversation."

It took a moment for the senior trainer's words to register with the rookies, shocked expressions at the change in Luke's mannerisms. His tone was frigid, with an edge of danger but no threat. There was no danger of their mentor attacking or injuring them. Instead, it was the danger that came from sitting across from a parent, knowing exactly what kind of scolding is coming.

"Now, I want to start off by saying that I'm not angry or upset." The rookies looked between each other. There was no way this was happening. This could not be happening. "But I am disappointed."

Luke raised his hand to stop any hasty responses the rookies might produce, but they just stared at him with flabbergasted looks. "But as disappointed as I am, I'm equal parts proud. I didn't prepare you guys for this kind of fight, against people who aren't interested in any kind of rules or standards. And you guys preformed far past what I hoped you would." Luke motioned to Brendan's bandaged arm and hands as though it proved his point.

The older boy gave a long sigh as he turned the berries. "Nothing about that went the way it was supposed to other than the business man escaping while I fought the boss. You guys were going to get to run away while I dealt with them, and I'd catch up with you guys either sometime toady or tomorrow. Instead, they split up to chase after you guys. I didn't think they'd recognize May like that. All the danger you guys had to go through? That's all on me." He took one of the berries from the spit and cut into it with his folding knife, taking a small bite from the fruit.

With the pink pecha juice dribbling down his chin, Julia noticed that Luke's hand was shaking slightly. His eyes were bloodshot, with dark bags underneath them. By the state he was in, it wasn't hard to tell that he hadn't slept, keeping the fire going throughout the night which produced the smoke that irritated his eyes. Even if there was something suspicious about his easy dismissal of the whereabouts of their attackers, he was genuinely upset and disappointed. If the steel-eyed girl had to hazard a guess though, Luke blamed himself more than any of the rookies. When he said it was his fault, he didn't just mean not knowing they would recognize May. He legitimately believed that it was his fault they had been in any danger at all. When Luke started speaking again, she could tell his heart wasn't in the lecture.

"That being said, what happened here was an example of a lack of control and knowledge on your parts." Luke pointed to the north. "The edge of the forest is just another mile or so that way, and then you would have been out in the open, maybe even managed a shout for help. But the real problem here was the corpse."

The temperature seemed to drop as though a Glalie had passed them by. "I don't blame you, and I know it was in self-defense. But given the angle his neck was at and the bruise on the side of his head that I'm assuming caused the break, it was a pokemon that did it. Just going off what I already know about your pokemon, I have to assume that it was either Oliver. Same logic goes for the dislocated knee on the woman. He's vicious, and you need to tame that aggression, or give him a better direction for it. Nobody is keeping track of the wilds he's killed. But when it's allowed to progress to people? That's when it starts getting dicey and the possibility of him being confiscated comes into play." The horror on Julia's face when he said that made him cringe inside, but he didn't let it show on his face. He might not be a good teacher, but he needed to get this point across. He softened his tone when he resumed speaking. "Not that I'm advocating for that, I'm against it entirely. But you need to learn how to control him."

Brendan stood up and marched toward Luke as Julia broke into tears again. Luke stood up and squared his shoulders to the younger boy as he approached. May's focus was entirely on trying to comfort Julia.

The punch was caught before it was even half way to Luke's face, Brendan's left hand wrapped in Luke's right. However, blocking the punch didn't stop the accompanying words, "Back off of her! The bastard had her pressed against the ground and was choking her, Oliver only did it to protect her! And the woman wasn't even Oliver, it was Treecko! I was busy with knife guy so he stepped in to help protect May from the bitch!" Spittle flew from the boy's mouth as he shouted at Luke, pulling back his other fist to swing again.

"Then good on you for training your pokemon to protect your teammates. And good on Julia for teaching Oliver to protect. But if you're serious about trying to attack me, reconsider." Luke's deathly soft tone froze the boy with chocolate eyes, just soft enough that May and Julia couldn't hear over Julia crying. "Because believe it or not, your guys' safety is my top priority. I made a promise to someone that I would keep you safe and help prepare you for being out here on your own. I'm not saying anything without reason."

Brendan's senses screamed that Luke was getting ready to retaliate, but the older boy was relaxed besides the arm that had stopped his punch. So he pulled his hand back and went to kneel beside Julia.

Luke returned to his seated position, looking to the fire instead of the other teens. "I'm sorry that I'm being so harsh right now. But I did mean it when I said I was proud of you. And I don't blame you at all for acting to preserve your own life at the expense of another. It's what I thought I was doing for you when I had you guys run."

That wasn't true. It couldn't be. The confidence that Luke carried himself with as he strolled into the clearing to confront the goons wasn't faked. Julia was sure of it. He had a way to win, his plan hadn't been to sacrifice himself. Right? She suddenly started doubting her reads of Luke.

"I'm just saying that I don't think I've been doing a very good job of teaching or preparing you guys. But that's going to stop here." Luke stood up and offered the berries to the teens, stomach knotting when he had to look at Julia's tear streaked face. "Now eat up. You'll need your energy to get back to our bags and get ready for gym number one, yeah?"

The rest of the trek to Rustboro City was thankfully uneventful once they got their gear back. It only took the next three days to reach the PokeCenter housing, but the rookies promptly collapsed as soon as they passed through the doors. Luke's training regimen was physically demanding and mentally exhausting. Yet the older boy went through it like it was natural to him.

Which is why he decided to take a walk once he had dropped off his bag at the center. "I need to go shopping and make a reservation." Was the only explanation he had given as he left the suite Norman had managed to reserve for the group of four. Not that they cared much. Their bodies were sore and minds weary. It was time to sleep and take turns using all the hot water.

When Luke returned, he carried two large bags and had several sheets of paper sticking out of his vest pocket. He felt bad for the rookies. He really did. His own athleticism came naturally on his journey, bolstered by the different athletics he'd done before leaving. Particularly swimming for building his endurance and breath efficiency. The rookies, while athletic, weren't ready for what Luke was putting them through, with daily exercises that would put his body to the test when done every day.

He hoped that the gifts made it up to them as he took his turn in the shower, lukewarm water washing the dirt and grime from his skin and pores. Once he was passably clean, he took the razor out from his bag and studied his face in the mirror. Brown and red stubble had become prominent on his cheeks and chin in the week and a half since he'd shaved. He took the bottle of shaving cream from his bag and went to work, not stopping until he deemed his face was smooth to his satisfaction. Then, he collapsed into bed, asleep almost instantly.

* * *

The next morning, Luke was waiting for the other teens in the suite's communal area, still with no idea how they got a suite again, in one of the bigger cities in the region. According to his X-Transceiver anyway. He wasn't one to complain about the comfort of having his own room though as opposed to having to room with Brendan. He placed the gifts on and beside the coffee table for when the rookies did eventually come out.

The boy checked the clock again as he stood and walked back to the kitchenette in the side of the common room where he had water boiling for his oatmeal, he'd been awake for three hours after being forced into consciousness an hour earlier than he was supposed to. Cooking the berries that morning after the sleepless night figuring out how to talk to and inspire the rookies had been a mistake. It reminded him of how much he enjoyed a hot breakfast instead of water and a protein bar or handful of nuts downed with water. It wasn't that he disliked the nuts or bars. He just loved how the hot food helped wake him up and energized him.

Once the oatmeal was made, he dropped fresh cut mixed berries on top and mixed them in. Oran and pecha that he'd picked during their last day in the wild and a sitrus berry that he'd bought from a vendor on the lakeside. It was a splurge, especially since he intended to use it for his own food instead of as a healing ingredient or paste, but he used his own money instead of the card Dubs had given him. But given how trying it had been for the rookies and himself over the past few days, he decided he deserved it. He knew it was selfish but, after the nightmares came back once he allowed himself to fall asleep and no signal strong enough to talk it out with Dubs, he decided he deserved it.

The oatmeal wasn't just for him though. Checked the clock: coming up on 7:30, the rookies would start trickling out of their rooms in an hour or so. Maybe later given how tired their muscles were from the harsh training. But they had been working incredibly hard to prove their ability and satisfy Luke at the expense of their muscles, working with food that provided the right energy but not the right nutrition. The berries would be the first step to Luke fixing that, along with internal frame backpacks that would allow them to carry their own gear and the gym preliminary matches he'd reserved for them with the trainer cards he'd grabbed from them after they'd checked into the housing.

Because he decided they deserved it.

* * *

/AN/ So, chapter 9 is that right there. I liked parts of it, other parts not so much just because it felt forced. Each action and reaction has a reason though.

Promises were brought up a lot, by Brendan, May, and Luke. But not Julia. She knows that what she did was to defend herself, but she has trouble rationalizing the idea it was ok for the man to be killed, regardless of the danger she was in. Her mind was occupied enough that she couldn't focus on anything other than the body in front of her and the idea it was her fault and responsibility. Even when her brother and her friend came to comfort her.

Brendan easily justified the violence, although his opponent wasn't killed, making it easier. His justification was that he wouldn't allow harm to come to someone who couldn't, or wouldn't, protect themselves. He would be fine maiming or crippling an opponent in the name of protecting a friend, family member, or one of his pokemon.

May refused to justify the idea of violence. Put simply, she's a pacifist. At the moment, she's kind of a foil to Luke, who is a battler and fighter first and foremost. The idea of pointless violence disgusts her.

Luke didn't say it word for word, but he made a promise to Caroline Carols to keep her children safe. And now he feels like he hasn't kept that promise. So he's making changes, upping the intensity of training so much that even he can recognize that what he's doing is overcompensation. The idea of taking control of the nutrition and diet that he thinks is helping solve the problem is even more overcompensation.

Now then.

**ZA WARUDO**

Berries work on people too, although they don't magically heal wounds or restore PP that people don't have. But they do contribute to good health and faster repair to muscles and tissues that have been worked. Not quite like steroids. They do more repair and restore than increasing the amount you can do. Pecha still is an antidote, cheri still helps with paralysis, rawst soothes burns, aspear helps with frostbite and hypothermia. There are in world scientific explanations. I do not know enough natural science to actually describe how they interact with the body though.

The note has begun to move again…

Anyway, I'll be gone until I'm back again. Stay safe y'all.


	10. Chapter 10

Julia woke up well before the other two rookies, but well after Luke judging by the bland scent of oatmeal accompanied by the distinct, sweet smell of sitrus she could smell coming from the communal room. So she left the bedroom to find the food and, she hoped, to get another chance to catch Luke with his shields down again. Except she would take advantage of it this time, mine the boy for information.

She was disappointed when she exited the room and saw the boy tense as he spooned a mix of the mush and berries into his mouth with a blank expression on his face, eyes boring a hole in the wall above the sink. It became confusion when she saw the packs and slips of paper.

"Are those for us?" she asked, gesturing to the packs and what she assumed were receipts.

Luke nearly dropped his bowl in surprise when she spoke, not realizing she had entered the room. Instead, he managed to set it on the table before turning his eyes to her. "Huh, what?" was the best the boy could manage.

"The packs. I mean, they're bigger than what Brendan and I are using right now, but they don't look anything like the ones that you and May have." Julia was surprised by how startled Luke was. When they were in the wild, it was like he had a sixth sense, or a way to extend his awareness into his surroundings. Yet here she was, apparently sneaking up on him. Although given how startled he was, maybe his shields were down more than she initially thought.

"Well, they aren't supposed to look alike," Luke said as he tried to recover his composure, standing up to put the red one on the table beside his breakfast, "These are internal frame packs. The one's May and I use are external frames."

"What's the difference? Why did you get them?"

Luke dipped back into his own room for a moment to grab his pack, blue and green canvas with an aluminum frame, before leaning it against the table for easy comparison. "Well, the short answer is that these have their frame on the inside, and mine has it on the outside. And yes, they are for you and Brendan. Really, we should have gotten packs for the two of you back in Petalburg, but we all had different concerns on our minds." Luke said as he motioned to his left arm, "Or at least I did. The longer answer is that their good at different things."

"Then why did you get us internal frames when yours is external, if the external is better for what we're doing?" Julia felt heat creep up in her neck when Luke laughed at the inquiry. She felt like it was a fair question, and that it wasn't much of a leap in logic to think the boy would be using the better option available. Especially given the extra bit of emphasis on keeping the best option in mind when they were training.

"Awfully bold of you to assume I make good decisions." Luke said once he stopped laughing, eating another spoonful of his breakfast before continuing. "For what we've done so far? It is. Externals are good for easy trails when you can hike upright and don't need as much mobility. They also make it a bit easier to carry heavier loads, and you can strap gear onto the frame if the inside is cramped for space, like the way I've been carrying you and Brendan's tents. Plus, they have multiple compartments and a lot of smaller pockets for organization and snack stashing." He pointed to each respective part of his pack as he gave the brief explanation.

"Internal frames on the other hand," he said as he moved to point on the red pack, "have one big compartment with only a couple extra pockets, most often used for water, orienteering tools, and your phone if it isn't in your pocket or hand. They fit tight against your back, so they don't really want to slide around if you're trying to get over or around something, letting you be more mobile when hiking. They aren't as bulky as mine is, so they don't get caught on branches or rocks, and they're easier to move around with in the city. They have you carry the weight with your back muscles more than the shoulders and hips like mine, which generally leads to more comfortable hiking and maneuvering since they generally don't carry as much weight. So in the long-term, for the places we're heading and trails we'll be using and blazing, the internals are better."

"Then why don't you use one?" Julia asked as she motioned to the bag with the boy's gear, "If they're so much better for what we do?"

"Well, I've been carrying a pretty heavy load since I've been packing two tents and some gear that I haven't been using, and the external is better for loads like that." Julia's ears turned pink when he mentioned how he'd been carrying the extra weight for the siblings, but Luke wasn't done with the explanation yet. "Plus, you know, nostalgia. This is the pack that I started my journey with, although I've had to replace the straps a couple times. You could say I've gotten pretty attached to this bit of canvas and aluminum."

The teen's softened face and gentle tone convinced Julia that he was relaxed and open to other questions. Even as she opened her mouth to ask about the goons that had attacked them, Luke held up a finger to silence her. Why was he so good at accidently avoiding questions? "Well, why did you go with one of those to start with, if you knew the other kind would be better for what you were doing?"

Luke snorted. "I wasn't sponsored when I stepped out the door. Internal frame packs cost a little more than double externals on average. Anyway, since you're up earlier than Brendan, you get first pick of the backpacks. So, which one are you going to pick? Red? Or Blue?"

The way he phrased the question made it seem like it was a much more important decision than it actually was. They were the same backpack in everything but color. Same design, same size, same contents. "Does it really matter which one I choose? I'm getting the same thing either way."

"Not really, but I've found it can have a profound impact on color choices going forward." Luke said, shrugging, "So go for which ever color you feel drawn towards."

"You're exaggerating, there's no way it'll affect me that much." She said as she picked the red bag up from the table and set it beside her room's door. When she turned back to face Luke, the boy had moved back to the stove top and back with a new bowl of oatmeal and fruit, which he handed to her.

Sitting down at the table, she realized that there were three receipts for two backpacks. Then she realized that the slips of paper weren't receipts at all. One had Luke's name, one had Brendan's, and one had her own. Emblazoned with the image of the stone badge at the top of the slip, the papers had dates and times for gym preliminaries next week, Brendan's and hers on Monday, Luke's on the day after. Her spoon fell into her bowl when she realized, holding the one with his name to his face.

Luke nodded and swallowed before speaking. "It's the other half of where I was on my walk yesterday. They're a full week away, and it's just a tier-one battle, so I wouldn't worry. I went ahead and signed all of us up except May. We have plenty of time to prepare you guys for it."

She shook her head in disbelief. She had been planning on going for a badge, yeah, but she hadn't told him that. But Julia needed to table that train of thought and get back to the overall more concerning matter before Brendan and May came out and made Luke close himself off again.

"Well, I would hope that we're ready after two months, especially after this last week." Luke nodded, agreeing with Julia's words. "Speaking of the last week, when you moved them or made them move or whatever, did you find out who those people were, or why they attacked us?"

"I was going to wait until after the gym battles to talk to the three of you about that," Luke said with a sigh and small smile that his hardening eyes disagreed with, "But since you asked and it'll be another hour or so until the others get up, I'll suck it up and explain twice."

In a vaguely similar way to when she had called Dubs a 'he,' Luke's response was very far from what she'd expected. She had anticipated Luke being more open about this given May, Brendan, and her own involvement in what had transpired. The sigh and smile? Sure, that fit. The eyes getting dangerous? Not at all.

"They were part of Team Aqua, a group of environmental activists whose primary goal is to stop the pollution and destruction of both marine and freshwater ecosystems and help them expand back to what they once were." A pause as Luke scrapped the bottom of his bowl, collecting the remaining fruit and mush before eating it. "They face opposition both from the bone-heads who think pollution isn't real and that resources are unlimited and from another group called Team Magma. Magma's public goal is the same as Aqua's except they prioritize the terrestrial ecosystems."

The brunette girl frowned, "So they're environmentalists? That doesn't track with what happened to us. It seemed more like organized crime to me."

The boy stood to rinse his bowl, saying "And you aren't wrong. The public image of Team Aqua is either a front for an organized crime ring, or the organization has an extremist sect willing to commit crime for their cause. It could also be both. I've only been able to find out about the public front of Aqua and Magma, and the people who attacked us weren't too forthcoming with information. They kept blabbing about how we should be scared of 'The Boss' and how we'd get turned to chum if we tried to interfere again." Luke let a mirthless laugh escape his throat. "They apparently forgot who won that fight. But that's beside the point, the chances we run into them again are low, especially to have another conflict with them like we did in the woods. At the same time, it would be irresponsible for us to let them slip under our radar just in case something else does end up happening."

That was when Brendan chose to come out of his room, stretching his arms above his head with an enormous yawn Julia could tell was staged. He'd been eavesdropping. May came out of her room just after as well. The sneaks. Julia was glad she wouldn't have to repeat what Luke had said to the pair.

Luke turned to address the two. "Oatmeal and berries are on and beside the stove, go ahead and grab some. Brendan, the blue pack is for you, so is the gym ticket. Go ahead and get settled so it's only the one time that I have to repeat the information."

The older boy ignored the two teens' surprise as he washed his hands of the berry juice and sat down, pulling his bag from the table. Once the rookies were set, he restarted his explanation, focused on Brendan and May's reactions as they listened.

* * *

After the next three days of training, Luke gave the rookies the Saturday day off, their gym prelims just another three days away now. He knew the timing was arbitrary, but he did prefer to get the prelims out of the way early in the week so that he could get the actual gym battle done in the same week. The days of the week didn't really matter in the wild. At least, they didn't to him. The passage of days? Sure. Each day was important for what had been accomplished and progress that was made. Weeks? Just a collection of days, grouped arbitrarily in sevens. Although he could get behind months. They helped him remember which season it was. Or they used to. In Hoenn it was dry and wet seasons, with moderation in between, with only slight temperature changes between them. Which meant it would stay this blasted hot.

Luke was training on Route 116 with Matthew, his new Nincada. He had only caught it the day before, but it was coming along well with his now Cascoon, Ewan. The bug types were both still playing catch-up with their team members, but they were getting there. Judging by the thickness and density of the cocoon, the transformation to a Dustox would be finished within a week of forming instead of the normal two that it took. Which was good for the quick power gain, but could be detrimental to its health, premature development and evolution was dangerous.

He was absorbed enough in training that he didn't realize it was late afternoon until his transceiver buzzed with a message from Julia asking if he wanted to grab dinner with her and assumedly the other rookies. So he shot a text telling them he wouldn't be back for dinner. Even though he wanted to eat, by the time he got back it would be well past meal time.

The break in his focus also let him see the signs that something was wrong in the area around him. The route was supposed to be filled with bug and flying types and those exceptionally loud Whismurs that reminded him of Tympole schools, but the area was strangely silent. Some branches higher up in trees were freshly splintered. The bark of the trees was scratched at random intervals. The grass had been trampled flat, and there was a pair of matching grooves in the ground that continued to the east, as though someone had been dragged out of the clearing.

Luke frowned as he looked at the twin trenches. There was no reason for him to find out what had happened. It wasn't his business, and there was no reason to get involved. He also had no definitive reason to believe misconduct. Until he crossed the area to get a closer look, and he saw four sets of tracks heading to the east. He shot a second text to the rookies telling them they had tomorrow off from training as well.

Blue eyes scanned the tracks as he hurried behind whoever left the tracks. There was nothing to indicate it was Aqua, but Luke had been around enough similar situations in Unova that it made him uncomfortable. And he had learned not to doubt his gut reactions. Matthew and Ewan were absorbed back into their pokeballs as he snatched the net and dusk balls from his hip pack, slipping them into his pocket for easier access. The tracks looked maybe a day old.

Even if it ended up being nothing, or something completely harmless, it wouldn't hurt to check on it. He had work to do.

* * *

The rookies were taking a page out of their mentor's book and walking aimlessly. Brendan and May didn't see what was so appealing about it, but Julia enjoyed just strolling, taking the chance to let her mind wander just as she was. Doing something just for the sake of doing it was relaxing. Especially as it stood opposed to the training Luke had been giving them.

The sudden free day was off setting in a way. The past week had been nothing but action starting with the attack, and Luke had shown no signs of letting up. But he did. For no apparent reason. Not that she was going to complain, but the loss of rhythm was odd.

Julia led the way unintentionally into the gym district, although none of the three noticed. Julia was lost in her wandering thoughts while May and Brendan were focused on each other, conversing about some aspect of team work from the double battles Luke had them practice. Julia briefly considered teasing the two but held back given the ammunition they could level in her direction.

The crush she had on the senior trainer was getting worse, and she didn't like it. It wasn't that she wanted to dislike Luke, but that wasn't the point. She was on the adventure to get away from home and the cage that had been set up around her, especially over the past year and a half. Not to have a crush on the guy who had facilitated it. She knew it was just because he was the only non-family member of the opposite gender she'd spent time around and that he was the one who made sure she could get away. It would fade, get better. It would have to. If only to get May off her back so she could tease her friend and her little brother. Priorities.

She was broken out of her thoughts when a man in a business suit with black hair combed to the side approached the three with a slight limp.

"You three!" he shouted, waving his arms over his head, "You were the group that saved me and my work from those hooligans in the woods! I figured I'd be able to find such strong, courageous trainers heading towards the gym. There's a fabulous restaurant just a couple blocks from here, and I insist on treating the people that saved me!"

A silent conversation was held between the rookies as they considered the man's proposal. They hadn't eaten dinner yet, and they did have numbers on him. Besides, if things looked dicey they could scram. The man had a limp and they were three athletic teenagers with nothing hindering their running other than maybe other pedestrians. They had all seven of their pokemon with them too. It didn't seem like it would be too dangerous. Plus they weren't sure where Luke was to pay for or make their dinner. So…

"Sure!" Julia said as she pulled out her pokenav, "Just let me message our friend that we're getting dinner, see if he wants to meet us there." The man nodded and blabbed his approval of the idea as the girl typed a message to the older boy, asking if he wanted to get dinner. As soon as she sent the text, she realized it sounded like she was asking him on a date. At least Brendan and May couldn't see it?

A quick, calm reply soothed Julia's brief concerns as she shook herself out of the funk. "He won't be able to join us for dinner, so lead on!"

It only took an hour of following the trail for Luke to find the first one. It was deep into the route, well away from where most trainers would dare venture until deep into their journeys. The other person was in horrible condition when the blue-eyed boy ran across him.

* * *

His left arm was crushed beyond what Luke assumed was reparable, with a bloated face that if Luke had known him he would be unrecognizable. Blood stained the dirt and tree that he was leaning on. Shallow breaths let Luke know that the man was alive, but his wounds would probably kill him soon if he didn't get some kind of medical attention, but Luke didn't have the time to get him to the hospital back in Rustboro personally.

Instead, he slathered the sitrus ointment from his hip pack on the injuries before wrapping the arm with the bandage roll. The trainer left the other man a water bottle and the remaining salve and left. Now that he could confirm foul play, he was glad he'd followed his gut.

The wilds were oddly silent as blue eyes flicked around their surroundings from under the ball cap. They were quiet, and still. As far as he was from the trail, this should not have been the case. Tailows and Nincada's should be chirping and buzzing, rustling in the trees. There should have been marks to indicate a pokemon pack's territory, scratches on trees or tufts of fur or feathers.

There were no such marks to be identified as he followed the trail of now four sets of tracks with a single trench. That didn't make sense either. The shallow divots were made by dragging someone by their arms as their heels tore up the dirt. People have two feet, and two heels. And it wasn't that the people being dragged only had one leg to drag, as the man's legs had been fine when Luke checked them. Unless they were using a cart or wheelbarrow? It would make sense, except where did the other wheelbarrow go? It wasn't around the man that had been left for dead.

Regardless, it seemed like there was someone else in trouble too, and the entire situation made it feel like mini-Durants were crawling on the inside of his skin. The suspicion that it could be Aqua or Magma festered in his stomach. Interrogation wasn't the way he preferred to get information, but the two grunts he'd captured and then let go had given him some good information relating to the groups. More than he had shared with the rookies. It wasn't their place to worry about things like groups that were half environmental activists and half eco-terrorists. It really was a shame that the good work the former halves were doing to push policy was getting bogged down and practically invalidated by the less than altruist motives of the other side.

Plus, you know, the standard run of the mill criminals they seemed to employ. So similar to what had happened in both Unova and the Indigo continent so recently. Well, every region has its struggles and battles. The boy had naively hoped that he'd be able to avoid becoming entangled. If only.

The X-Transceiver buzzed with two messages, coming from Julia and May. Both asking where he was and needlessly mentioning how late it was getting. May also still seemed intent on finding out if he had any kind of romantic interest in anyone either at home or in Hoenn. If she didn't clearly have a crush on her childhood friend, he might have thought she liked him. But really, it was cute getting to see them relive the start of so many trainers' adventures. Cute that May was trying to play matchmaker between her older friend and himself. Not as cute that she kept trying after Luke had told her to stop once it became obvious and annoying.

Julia, well, she was intriguing more than anything else. The way she interacted with pokemon as though she could understand their thoughts and feelings without really spending time with them, or instantly befriend a pokemon, all without either of them speaking. Even _he_ had to physically hear the pokemon to understand them. And steel colored eyes that seemed to look past the shell and shields he had in place. For someone as reserved as he was, someone who could just look past the outside and into his thoughts was a terrifying prospect.

But the fear was overpowered by curiosity. She had an innate ability to understand and identify with others, be they pokemon or human, in a way that he hadn't seen before. It was fascinating.

Brendan, meanwhile, had a natural inclination to understand systems and patterns more so than other living beings. His ability to analyze and interpret information as quickly as he did allowed him to lean on the crutch of micromanaging his pokemon, working with their exceptional reaction speed. Luke still didn't think it was healthy long term for the younger boy's battling career, but he'd been wrong before. That did not mean he would let up on breaking the boy's bad habit. Just that it might not be as bad as he'd originally thought it was.

He keyed in a message to both of them, explaining he got absorbed in training and went a bit too far from the city to make it back that night, and that he'd hopefully see them tomorrow. He knew it wasn't likely though, not if he wanted to catch up to whoever had attacked the man. So he sent a follow-up message giving them the next day off as well and hoped for the best.

* * *

Turns out the business man's name was Winston Smith, and he was not a business man at all. He was a researcher for the Devon Corporation, working on a fossil restoration project that 'those hooligans' wanted to get their hands on. The adult had far more energy than any reasonable person rightfully should have and talked faster than any normal person could understand.

His enthusiasm and excitement over rediscovering his 'saviors' could attest to that. Rather, the repetition of how thankful he was could. He explained that once his team proved their theory and finished assembling their machine, they would be able to improve on the Cinnabar resurrection machine and encode something or another. He wasn't really holding back on the information output and was talking to three teenagers, fast enough that they could only catch every fifth word or so. Still, they had managed to decipher the invitation to Devon Corp. the following week and left with full stomachs after promising that if they ever found any fossils, they would bring them to him for resurrection.

Even after the dinner, Luke hadn't returned to the suite. It was getting dark out, and the older boy had left almost all his gear in his room. Julia was glad that she wasn't the only one who was beginning to worry about the teen, concerned expressions on both May and Brendan's faces.

May even beat her to taking her pokenav out and starting to type Luke a message, although Julia wasn't far behind. This late into the evening, it was absurd for him to be out without his gear or touching base. It only took a couple minutes for the Unovan to reply, telling them he'd be out for the night and that he'd be fine, that they could have the next day off and he'd hopefully be back sometime tomorrow.

Hopefully? _Hopefully_?! The speed his replies came indicated no hesitation or apology for the disappearing act he committed. Julia was concerned. May was disappointed.

Brendan was angry. Luke was finally giving him what he needed from the older boy. Legitimate training for both himself and his pokemon, in preparation for his upcoming gym battle.

The seed of doubt planted when his father had mentioned Team Plasma started to sprout again. Why did he need to take off with no explanation if he had nothing to hide?

The doubt and anger kept simmering even as he set a pot of water to boil for his and his sister's decaf coffee and May's tea. It was a ritual they fell into often before their journey started, dating back to the first weekend the siblings had spent in Littleroot. Although the vibrant colors of either family's living rooms were exchanged for the muted colors of the center suite, it felt like a return to normalcy.

Despite the comfort she gained from sipping at her tea once steeped, May couldn't help but worry for Luke. From what she had seen, he was an incredibly resilient and resourceful person who lacked refinement with regards to self-preservation. And whenever he was split from the trio he managed to put himself in danger. The exception being the blue blur, but that was hardly a fair example, none of them really had a choice about being caught in that maelstrom of energy.

Actually, whenever there was any kind of split in the party one side ended up getting in massive trouble or being seriously hurt. The Poochyena ambush before they met up with her outside of Oldale, the blur when Brendan had his back turned, whatever happened to Luke in the wilds when they were in Petalburg because she still didn't really believe it was a Mightyena pack, and then the incident with the Aqua Grunts.

Huh. Maybe splitting up wasn't such a good idea. "Hey guys, I've got a plan." She said, Brendan and Julia looking up from their warm beverages in mild surprise that she spoke, "From here on, no splitting up one and three with Luke, yeah? We have no idea what he's doing, and no real idea when he's coming back."

"Plus if one of us is always with him we can keep a better eye on whatever he's doing. I like this idea." Brendan said, dumping another spoonful into the coffee his tongue decided was still too bitter. "And it'll let us keep tabs on him in general."

"I meant as a way to make sure everyone stays safe." May clarified, bringing her drink back up to her lips. "Because whenever the groups are three and one somebody gets hurt or attacked. Being in groups of two can help with that, and we can rotate who's on Luke duty. Unless somebody _wants_ permanent Luke duty." The last segment of her suggestion was directed at Julia.

Brendan nearly gagged on his coffee when he saw the rosy color start to crawl up Julia's face. "No, thank you, I don't think it'd do for just one of us to stay around him all the time. Besides, that'd mean one of us getting more and better training than the other two." Julia used the age-old strategy of defending against the tease with facts and logic, betrayed by the heat in her face.

Brendan's expression turned contemplative as he considered the implications of greater training time even as May smiled and sipped at her tea again. "I mean, it doesn't really matter," she said as she pulled the tea down from her lips, "I'm going to keep at this until my ship sails."

This time, Julia joined her brother in groaning, before finishing their beverages and agreeing to meet in the morning to plan out the next day.

* * *

Luke removed his contacts for the sake of consistency should he run into any Aqua members the grunts he'd met had told about him. Not that they would be able to tell very clearly in the moonlight, but the boy with heterochromatic eyes wasn't planning on taking the chance.

In the past couple hours following the trail, he'd run into one other person, except he'd been a day or two too late to help her. Really he couldn't be sure, a specialist in how much time had passed since someone died he was not. He didn't even know what that specialization was called. Still, he marked the location on his X-Transceiver to report the body once he was finished and back in the city. Just like the one before, she had no pokeballs on her person despite bearing other marks of a trainer.

For now, he needed to finish tracking down whoever was doing this. The trail was getting fresher, but he couldn't tell how much. Although he sincerely doubted they had the same freedom of movement he did in the wild, especially dragging whatever was making the gouge in the soil. So despite the lead they started with and assumedly still had on him, he guessed he would catch up with them within the next day, possibly letting him get back to Rustboro within the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours. The rookies would be safe while they were in the city though.

Besides, they didn't need any more training before the gym battle. All of them were stronger than Luke when he'd completed his first gym in Unova, even May the pacifist. He doubted they realized it since he hadn't pointed it out, but their starters would all evolve soon. Rebecca and Brendan's Treecko had darker pigments creep into their skin, cream colored feathers were beginning to sprout from May's Torchic, and Oliver's amphibious skin was becoming lighter. And all of them were gaining their pre-evolution muscle mass, although it was by far most evident in Rebecca.

All in all, he had no reason to worry about his rookies. So he released Gojira and Heracles from their balls and gave a single command as he lay down under a tree, his transceiver set to wake him in four hours.

The two pokemon confirmed with a simple motion before dropping just out of sight from the human. Feeling as safe as he had in a while, Luke fell into a slumber where he knew the nightmares awaited him.

* * *

/AN/ And so the first half a score of chapters in the first fic is finished, and this sentence is far more complicated than it needs to be! Sort of a bit of filler before the gyms, but I did feel some of the stuff important enough to justify the mis-sequencing of events going on here. Also, at some point between last chapter and this one, I grew a day older that is supposed to equate to a year of maturity, although I don't really feel that much different than a year ago. Maybe more stressed, maybe less, I dunno. Either way, time to start what society dictates is a new time in my life. Whoo-hoo?

Real quick, the mention of the starters ready to evolve is because in the game they did evolve before the gym battle, I just didn't want to have them evolve right now in story. No real reason other than I thought it would make more sense to evolve later.

If anyone is interested that doesn't already know, a few authors are doing a Nuzlocke EU! I am not one of them, as I don't play well with others outside of a choir or symphony. I'm too capricious and chaotic with how and when I write to do collaborations until I get my habits and writing under control. Plus, in my opinion, they're all better than I am at this? So go check them out! Maycontestdrew's The Iron Knight, Plegian Gengar's The Rose That Was Always Red, Fuzzboy's The Courtship of Heavenly Plates, and more to be added in their timeline. I've read all of both so far, and I'm enjoying them.

*This fic is not sponsored, just felt like shouting them out since I'm having fun reading them. On that note, have you heard of Dollar Shave Club?

Plug aside, thanks again for reading! This is (hopefully) me going into a weekly schedule of updating, but I make no promises. While Dragonsaurus appreciates everybody who reads, reviews, or PM's Dragonsaurus for Dragonsaurus' writing, Dragonsaurus writes for Dragonsaurus. But I will be as consistent as school, work, and my drive to write allows me to be.

I had fun playing the Locke, I had fun making outlines, I'm having fun writing, and I hope you're having fun reading.

Now then.

**ZA WARUDO**

Death is a common occurrence for both trainers and their companions. Wilds don't entirely understand the difference in threat between trainer and pokemon and will lash out indiscriminately. Trainers who don't care about little things like societal rules are more than willing to target the opposing trainer either personally or with their pokemon. It's a dog eat dog and eat cat too world out there.

The note has begun to move again…

Anyway, be sure to hit me with any thoughts you have about the story in a review or PM! Let me know what you think of the characters, the world, anything really. Go wild, and have fun.

Anyways, I'll be gone until I'm back again. Stay safe y'all.


	11. Chapter 11

**Real quick, before we get started. I've put up a poll on my profile about the preferred length of chapter for everyone to answer. Go ahead and check it out so I can tailor the story and chapters to what you guys want. I'm writing to help myself detox and destress, but if I can easily make it more enjoyable for you I will! Now then, on with the show!**

He could hear them talking in the cave up ahead, the wheelbarrow ditched several miles back with the last body, an old man who was barely breathing with the lower half of his right leg crushed and an ugly purple bruise on his bald head. Despite those, he was conscious when Luke found him.

The old man reached out with a shaking hand, saying "Peeko…you've got to help my Peeko…" before falling unconscious.

Luke assumed that he meant a pokemon.

It was early morning, around the time the rookies would be waking up that he was surveilling the cave, listening to the voices that he couldn't quite discern what they were saying. The Tailow and Nincada were still eerily silent, just as they had been the preceding evening. Luke shot a glance into the woods where he knew Gojira and Heracles were.

As he stood up from his crouched position, he released his team. Rebecca, Franz, Shigure, Matthew, and Ewan emerged beside him as he strolled toward the cave entrance. The chatter stopped when they heard the iconic cracking sound of pokeballs being activated. They had realized he was there. Good.

Time to find out who they were and what was going on here. Gojira and Heracles followed behind the tree line. They would come if he gave the signal. His current team formed a 'U' shape in front of him as he moved. They were ready to attack or defend, whichever became necessary first.

The cave was well lit, artificial lights hanging from the walls bathing the space in a yellow light. As soon as the bait entered, the trap was sprung.

A quick glance told Luke they were Aqua: blue bandanas tied around their heads or upper arms with one of them having black instead. The 'A' symbol displayed toward the world like a battle flag or source of pride. Two males, two females.

Trained eyes caught a detail on the upper left arm of the man in the black bandana as the grunts reared back to throw their pokeballs. A tattoo that struck Luke with feelings of nostalgia and revulsion.

Three Whismur, a Loudred, and a Palpitoad emerged from the six thrown pokeballs. Luke stood behind his wall of pokemon in a ready stance. Knees bent, hands hovering at his belt and hip pack. Rebecca could single up against the Unovan toad, Franz and Shigure could take a Whismur each, and Matthew and Ewan could team up against the final Whismur. Which left the Loudred and all four trainers unoccupied for Luke to deal with until one or more of his team members finished their opponent. It wasn't the best situation, but he could work with it. He didn't want to tip his hand yet, so the veterans would stay in reserve-

Luke wasn't sure what tipped him off. Something he saw in one of the grunt's expression, a slight vibration in the ground and air, or the tiniest bit of hesitation the Aquas were showing before attacking. But something did, as he dove to his right, a boulder having taken his spot until it used its arms to pick itself off the ground. An aerial Geodude attack. Maybe it would be better to go ahead and call them in.

Even as Luke raised one of his hands to snap his fingers, the melee broke out. The Aqua grunts were more than happy to be spectators, calling out orders as the Geodude hurled rocks at the teen, shattering into shrapnel when he dodged them.

Rebecca had already drained the toad into unconsciousness. It had been slow and overly reliant on the commands that were repressing its instincts. The human giving commands was sloppy, his partner hesitant. No match for a well-trained gecko. So she turned to the pseudo-simian with a huge mouth. She was sure the gaze was supposed to be menacing, but she had met father's other pokemon, the Gojira and the Heracles. The purple ape would need to try harder to intimidate her.

Avian and canine worked together, switching between targets as they pummeled the pair of Whismur. They were faster and stronger than their opponents, with better reactions and teamwork. Plus they were capable of independent thought, which the Whismur seemed lacking in. Their battle would not last much longer.

Ewan had neatly tied up the two remaining Whismur in bundles of silken thread, humming happily to himself. He was proud of his good work and was sure to be rewarded with snacks and scritches when the battle was done. Ewan was a good boy. The Luke would be proud of him. And that made him even happier.

Matthew was busy with a wild Whismur that was trying to hide behind him. He was trying to push it away to little success. It was bewildering. Nothing was attacking it. The Whismur was the safest thing in this section of the cave. So why was it bothering trying to get him to protect it when he should be helping Rebecca or Franz or Shigure? What a bother.

Luke didn't have time to look at how the battle was progressing. He had snapped several times, but the battle was drowning the sound. He needed to either get back to the entryway or finish the battle without his aces. The rock-type was keeping him too busy throwing boulders to do either option. He almost didn't notice two of the Aqua grunts, one male and one female, sneaking up on him. Almost. He realized he had a choice when the rock with arms threw one of its non-sentient brethren and the woman swung a punch.

He could take the hit from the rock to evade the punch or dodge into the punch to avoid the rock. Decisions, decisions. What to do.

Luke took the strike clear across his face. She was not as strong as he expected, and thankfully didn't seem to know the correct way to punch. Seemed like he was teaching everyone these days.

The teen gave her a demonstration as he ducked her teammates' haymaker before bringing his closed fist into her throat. She collapsed, choking for air with her hands at her throat as Luke repositioned himself to face the other Aqua head on. The man had a slim build, the bones on his pale face were easy to pick out.

As his knee connected with the other man's stomach, Luke felt a stab of sympathy. The two that attacked him were underfed and malnourished, muscles not given the care and support they needed. Yet there was little room for sympathy in such a fight.

Shrapnel from the Geodude's next attempt cut into his shoulder and wrist, one particular shard stabbing through the screen of his X-Transceiver and into his flesh. The next strike from the teen sent the other man into the arms of unconsciousness as mismatched eyes fixed themselves on the device.

It hardly functioned in the wilds anyway, especially here when to get any signal at all he had to boost it with the pokedex. It was outdated, being an older model even when he received it two and a half years ago. It was in poor shape already, blue paint almost all chipped or faded, the glass on the screen scratched with a crack in the upper left corner. It had been having trouble with video calls for about a year anyways. The UI was poor. Sometimes the touchscreen wouldn't work. Sometimes the second screen got jammed, stuck inside the device's body. By all means it was a piece of crap.

But it had been _his_ piece of crap. One of his only physical possessions. Several small sparks flew from the communicator.

His eyes shifted to glare at the two remaining grunts. The woman seemed uneasy, like they didn't want to be there anymore. The man with the black bandana and the tattoo was terrified, as though he'd encountered a specter.

The blood trickled down Luke's arm and dripped to the cave floor as he approached the two. The teen's face was locked into an expression of cold fury. He didn't know why the rocks had stopped, he assumed one or two of his pokemon were dealing with the Geodude.

The man regained enough of his composure to shout a command to his remaining pokemon, "Loudred, uproar! Full blast!" His eyes told the story just as well as his voice did. He was scared, and he had a right to be. Luke didn't plan on pulling any punches anymore.

"Gojira! To me!" Luke shouted in reply before the simian could launch its attack as he stalked toward the pair of humans.

The pain and pressure from the sound were incredible, reverberating around the entry cavern. But Luke was ready. Ear plugs were lodged deep within his ears to keep the worst of it at bay. He knew the route and cave had a high Whismur population, so he entered the cave prepared. He doubted he would even be able to stand if he didn't have them in. Like the woman who had already collapsed unconscious to the ground, blood streaming from her ears, eyes rolled back into her head.

It wasn't the first time the teen had fought when the very ground he stood on was sending vibrations up his legs. But damn did he wish he didn't have to. It was an unsettling feeling while it lasted. When it stopped, Luke assumed either Heracles or Gojira had dealt with the ape.

Luke beat the man with the tattoo long after he had lost consciousness, his knuckles bruising from the abuse. Only then did he look around.

Gojira and Heracles stood vigilant by the entry to the cavern, taking in the situation. Franz and Shigure were barely conscious, blood leaking from their mouths and ears. Matthew stood protectively in front of a little, wild Whismur, cicada and simian apparently having reached some agreement.

Rebecca stood over the body of Loudred, two full feet taller than the last time Luke had seen her, having evolved into Grovyle. The blades of grass extending backwards from her forearms were coated thinly in the purple pokemon's blood. The lacerations on the body varied wildly in intensity, which made Luke think she had instinctually learned and used fury cutter as she tried to hack her opponent apart.

Then there was Ewan. The cocoon that he had formed when he evolved into a Cascoon was broken open, fluids leaking out.

Pooling around the crushed, premature Dustox's corpse. Delicate wings shredded, body ripped nearly in two. It was a ghastly sight. Luke suddenly realized why the Geodude had stopped attacking him. It found a target that was so much easier to hit than the agile human.

The offending rock pokemon was unconscious near the door, falling victim to its teammate's uproar. Luke made a weak motion with his hand in its direction. "Crush it."

Gojira complied, shattering the Geodude as Luke gathered up Ewan's remains and took them out of the cave. He built a small pyre and lit it with a lighter from his hip pack.

"Goodbye Ewan," Luke said softly as he watched his pokemon's body burn, "I'm sorry I dragged you into this."

The boy recalled his pokemon before bandaging his arm with strips of cloth from the male grunt's shirt, carefully removing the rock shrapnel. Before he left, he took the pouch of pokeballs hidden poorly behind a rock.

And then he left, heading west back to Rustboro. Leaving the man with the Team Plasma tattoo in the cave next to his destroyed Geodude and cut-open Loudred. That man had been the only one to actually look healthy and cared for, the others seemed thin as a rail and dead tired.

Unbeknownst to Luke, something decided to follow him.

* * *

Julia woke up to her pokenav buzzing with a message from the Rustburo Gym. Because someone ahead of her dropped out from their preliminary, her battle got moved up a day. To that day at noon. She only had four hours until the battle, which meant Luke wouldn't be there to watch, and that she would have to battle before either him or Brendan.

She flew around the room with a rushed feeling, throwng on a fresh set of clothes and grabbing her training backpack that held her potions. There was no need to hurry, but the sudden spike of nerves was getting to her.

The smell of brown sugar and berries was missing from the communal area, replaced by the presence of Brendan and May sipping coffee and tea respectively, shoulders touching. They were sitting on the loveseat, it would have made far more sense if one of them was at the table or couch. The steel eyed girl's mind was so preoccupied that she didn't bother to file the moment away for later teasing.

Instead she went straight to the rented coffee maker and poured herself a drink of the hot liquid as Brendan and May both decided to vacate the loveseat in favor of the couch and table. "We were going to get you up in another hour or so," Brendan said as his face filled with heat, "my prelim match got moved up to 11:30 today, we were planning on grabbing breakfast on the way there since Luke wasn't around to make something."

"Oh. Ok." Julia said, the warmth from the drink and her brother's words serving to calm her down, "My match got moved to noon today, I guess a whole bunch of people cancelled. And I'm down to grab something, I don't feel like making something anyhow."

Luke carefully lifted the old man into the wheelbarrow and set the bag of pokeballs beside him. It'd be a long hike back to the city with a passenger, but the blue-eyed boy couldn't leave the stranger in the middle of the wilds with a crushed leg and no way back to civilization.

With Rebecca beside him and Franz ahead, Luke started the trek, willing himself to ignore the pain in his still healing wrist and arm and shoulder from the shrapnel.

Breakfast finished, the rookies arrived at the gym just after 11 o'clock, plenty of time for Brendan and Julia to check in. Well, they thought it would be. The line was long with people trying to schedule a battle or drop out of one. It took fifteen minutes to get up and say their names to be told to go to the warm up area and wait to be called for their matches. May was forced to stay in the lobby area, being told that the warm-up room was for challengers only.

The warm-up area was a small indoor arena with no bleachers or podiums for television crews. The air was hot and stale from the many trainers and pokemon that were stretching and practicing movements for specific situations. Which they shouldn't have been doing, there just wasn't enough space.

Brendan simply held the pokeballs that contained his Treecko and Wingull in front of him with either hand. "We don't need to do any of that, we've got this."

Julia let her pokemon out just to be with them in the moment. Petting and scratching Chocolate as Kord sat in her lap on the floor and Oliver stood protectively in front of her.

Chocolate's fur was getting thicker and darker with every day that passed, the oil that leaked from his pores allowing the hairs on his snout, legs, and back to stand up. May had explained that it helped the Poochyena detect slight movements in the air around them to alert them to threats. Luke had explained the signs that her canine was close to evolving.

It was easier to tell that her little blue guardian was bulking up. The muscles on the mudfish were visible if you got close enough and his skin was constantly shifting towards a lighter shade of blue. His middle fin spikes were growing out past the others, and he was just _bigger_ than he used to be.

She didn't know what would actually trigger their evolutions, but she had reason to believe her team would be going through it soon.

Except Kord. He spent most of his time waddling along, being carried by Julia, or lazing in the sun. He hadn't really shown an inclination for battling except when he had too, and even then he preferred to sit back and use status moves so that he wouldn't actually have to do anything to win.

The tranquility only lasted a moment before a gym clerk walked in. The room fell silent in anticipation. Who would be the next to get their shot?

"Brendan Carols, your match it ready."

The other trainers were mostly dumbfounded that the boy they hadn't seen bring his pokemon out to warm them up was already going. Some scoffed at him as he passed them, making his way to the door.

"Don't worry sis, I'll finish this quick enough to spectate your match." The teen said to Julia as he left the room, following the clerk. His mind drifted back to one of the things his father told him just two weeks ago in Petalburg.

"Salazar. Usopp. We've got this." He whispered to himself as he was led to a side gym. He didn't know how powerful the gym trainer would be, but he didn't need to. The teen's face was blank when he shook hands with the female trainer.

When they reached their respective sides of the battlefield, he gave a nod to signify he was ready. Brendan was assured in both his pokemon and his own abilities, and he would make this quick.

People reacted to her being called up in the same fashion they had with Brendan. They thought she wasn't ready. Truth be told, she didn't know if she was. But Luke and Brendan had a sort of infectious confidence in their pokemon, and her team was as strong as Brendan's. Her pokemon could win the fights. The source of doubt was their trainer.

Brendan's team listened to his every word. Luke's pokemon used a precise combination of instincts and training, assisted by minimal commands and suggestions from the trainer. Her team members did their own things, functioning independently unless she called for a switch.

Her younger brother had a victorious grin on his face when she saw him on the sidelines of her battle plot. He really had finished quickly.

Julia had pulled her hair back into a bun in the warm-up area just to keep herself from picking at it. No amount of warm-up would make the difference between a win and a loss here. Her pokemon were either ready or they weren't.

She started with Oliver. He was her strongest by a good measure and would act as a good litmus test. If he struggled or was defeated, she'd be able to concede and save her other pokemon from harm. Brendan had the confidence, but she had the cautiousness that might be able to keep her team safe.

Her opponent sent out a Geodude that was on the sidelines instead of a pokeball. Beside where the pokemon was there was another boulder that looked incredibly similar. A most likely a second Geodude then.

The match was about as one sided as it could have been. Pressurized blasts of water from the Mudkip had the rock types unconscious in a matter of moments.

She wasn't surprised that she had won, or that Oliver had beaten the gym trainer single handedly. It was the speed and efficiency that her starter moved and attacked with that stunned Julia. From the get-go Oliver had wanted to battle and enjoyed fighting. But the only comparisons she could draw were with Brendan and Luke's pokemon, and the trainers they found at the cities' outskirts.

Yet the person she had just beaten was a gym trainer. Someone whose job was to act as a gatekeeper for those who weren't ready to face off against the gym leader. She shook hands with the man, who congratulated her and wished her luck in her battle with Roxanne.

"Wait, Roxanne? I thought the gym leader here was Boulden?" Julia asked, stopping the man before he could leave.

The man let out a hearty laugh as he turned back to face Julia, Brendan coming to her side. "He just retired last circuit! Roxanne is a teacher at the trainers' school here in Rustboro. Her eighth-tier team isn't quite as strong as his was, but you guys won't need to worry about that. She's tough as rocks on the lower tiers though since so many of them are her students. Again, good luck!"

Her battle had started at noon, give or take a couple minutes. When she left the building with her friends and the date of her battle with Roxanne at quarter past. Her and her brother's battle with the new gym leader were set for the same day, back to back battles on Thursday.

* * *

When the trio returned to their suite, there was a man standing outside the door, tall with sandy blond hair. He turned and smiled at them as they approached, a red band with an 'M' symbol tied around his left bicep.

"Hey there," he greeted, offering his hand. Julia and May shook hands like normal people while Brendan frowned at the colored band on his arm as they shook. "I'm Nick, one of the high tier gym trainers at Rustboro Gym. Does Lucas Williams share this suite with you?"

"Yeah, he does. Did something happen?" It felt so strange hearing him referred to as Lucas instead of Luke, with his last name tagged on as well. Julia only remembered him using his surname once before, when he was talking to her mother. The red armband wasn't doing anything to dispel the growing unease she felt.

"No, nothing serious, it's just that he prelim match got moved up a day," Nick said, "We tried contacting him via pokenav, but it said his device couldn't be reached." The man walked away with a wave. "Give him the message, would you?"

Once he disappeared from sight, Brendan frowned. "I don't like him. He had one of those bandana's around his arm, even if it was red instead of blue."

"That just means he is either part of the group or supports its activism," May said, opening the door for the other two, "it doesn't automatically make him a bad person. Or affiliated with any of the darker side that we don't know exists. Don't make judgements about someone without knowing them." She poked him lightly in the side and grinned as they sat down on the couch with Julia sitting down at the table. "Because you know what they say about assuming."

Julia didn't voice her opinion on the stranger. Since, well, she didn't really have one. Her brother and her friend both had valid points. Except it wasn't really right to jump to conclusions about people like that, right? At least not without more evidence?

Regardless, if they couldn't reach Luke maybe one of them could? She pulled out her pokenav and tried to send a simple message, asking where he was and if he could talk. It took about twenty seconds of her device attempting to send it before it told her it couldn't be delivered.

"I think something might be wrong with Luke," she said, holding up the pokenav, "it isn't that he won't pick up, the message isn't even being delivered."

"Did he block you? The ship is ruined? Julia, say it isn't so!" May said, latching onto her friend's shoulder to get a better look at her screen. "Wait, that isn't the message that comes up when someone blocks you. Did they cancel his carrier plan or something?"

Brendan keyed in a message to the older boy as well and received the same response as his sister. "Actually, this might be a good time to get worried. Because right now we can't contact him at all, and from my point of view there are two likely possibilities."

He held up his hand to stop the girls from cutting him off. "I qualified the statement, alright? Anyway, either he ditched us, or he's in some shit that he's having trouble getting out of," he took a pause with an empty laugh, "I honestly don't know which would be worse."

"It could also be that his thing's battery died." May said, pulling the others to the table, "You guys really are bad about jumping to conclusions. Now then, tell me about the senseless violence you two committed today."

* * *

Julia was terrified when she realized that someone had come into their suite and left the door open while they were at dinner. The three immediately checked their rooms and gear. Nothing was missing, or out of place. Except the tap had been left on, and there was blood on the bathroom floor.

The blood formed a scattered trail of drying droplets across the threshold of the bathroom into the communal area. It led straight to the open door to Luke's room. Julia knew for a fact that the door had been shut when they left to eat, yet here it was, open with a blood trail leading inside. The only light from within came through the streetlight shining through the window onto the doorway.

"I have no idea what's going on here," Brendan said, pulling Salazar's pokeball from his belt and releasing the gecko from the capsule, "but whatever it is, it's messed up."

Julia just nodded as she approached the door with Oliver and Chocolate's balls in hand. A sudden noise from inside, something striking the wall, startled her enough that she dropped the balls, releasing her team members. Then she heard what sounded like a struggle, and with a single look to her brother, they both rushed in, throwing on the light.

The rookies would later realize that this was the first time they saw Luke sleeping, and could have no idea if this was the norm. Luke always went to sleep after and woke up before them after all. But they were universally horrified by what they saw.

Luke was thrashing in the bed shirtless, droplets of blood flying from one of his arms onto the floor and seeping into the bedsheets. His movements looked like convulsions from an electric shock, random and aggressive. The only sounds he was making was a low whine from the base of his throat and sharp gasps.

Then he stopped suddenly, his momentum carrying him off the bed and onto the floor, his pillow managing to land in the perfect position to cushion his head's impact. His left arm and shoulder were peppered with small puncture wounds as though he'd been the target of a bullet seed attack. The blood from said wounds dripped down his arm, tracing around the raised skin of other scars before reaching the floorboards.

It wasn't until several minutes had passed that they judged it was safe to approach and inspect him. As Brendan and May inspected his injuries and scars, Julia put the back of her hand against his forehead to check for a fever. Her hand was covered in a thin sheen of sweat when she pulled it away. That's when she noticed the goosebumps covering his arms, and the tear marks down his face. She remembered the boy making a comment about nightmares at some point, but was this what he meant? Surely they would have noticed, or have been woken up by the sound by now, right?

* * *

It wasn't until that evening that Luke dropped the old man off at Rustboro Hospital, ditching the wheelbarrow by the building's dumpster. The teen left a note with the man with the approximate area that the other man and the corpse were.

His body ached from the physical strain he'd put it though, his mind disoriented from lack of food, dehydration, and the heat. He had checked and rechecked his hip pack for where a bottle of water was supposed to be, but his hand always came away empty. Where did he put the bottle?

The rookies were thankfully out of the suite when he got back. The Unovan teen was too tired to care where they were for the moment, instead filling one of his other water bottles from the tap and downing it, refilling it, and running a cool shower.

Luke scrubbed the grime from his skin, wincing when the wash towel rubbed against the puncture wounds on his arm. The bandaging job he'd done was sub-par, but they didn't seem to be infected, so he probably didn't need to go to the hospital to get them checked. Dubs and the rookies didn't need to know he got injured again.

Actually, how did he plan to hide the wounds from the rookies? His only shirts were short sleeved and the heat in his jacket was awful. They hadn't asked about the other scars on his arms yet, but they would almost certainly notice the bandages. Luke sighed as he cut the shower. He would just endure the heat until they were less noticeable and didn't need bandaging.

It was hardly dinner time, but Luke went directly to his bed once he was out of the shower. The boy finally unstrapped the X-Transceiver from his wrist, placing it on top of his bag. It was time for his muscles to rest and recover from the punishment he'd given them.

As soon as his head hit the pillow, the boy drifted into unconsciousness. The nightmare seemed to come immediately. A new voice had joined his choir of failures, a soft hum from a broken shell, an orange glow of heat providing the only color in the dreamscape until it had crumbled to ash and slowly rebuilt itself in greyscale.

The other figures were clad in shadows, silhouettes without definition. They all made sounds, but they were unintelligible to the teen. Until a male voice formed from the dark.

"Now look what you've done, added a couple more bodies to your count. You really do know how to pick 'em to die." A pause as a Luke shuddered. "I can empathize. With them that is, not you."

Luke needed to wake up. Death happened around him enough that, honestly, he should be desensitized to it. It was inevitable that all the people and pokemon he cared about would eventually die, and he accepted that. Didn't mean he had to like it, but he knew it would come.

But in the end, it was the same nightmare that he'd been having for so long. After all, what difference does it make when one more soldier is added to a legion?

Luke managed to shake himself awake when it was still dark out, which meant that hopefully the rookies were already asleep and wouldn't see him. Good.

He left his room to get to the first aid kit he left beside the sink and started applying a real bandage to his arm. First the sterilizing wipe, then the ointment, then the gauze, then the wrapping. They had been open too long and stiffened to really consider stitches like the couple he'd gotten for the Mightyena bite. It'd be painful, but hey, he was right handed anyway. Hopefully he wouldn't be getting in any more brawls until they healed over the next week or two.

When he went back to his room to pretend to keep sleeping, he noticed a note the rookies must have put up when they got back from wherever it was they went.

'Hey Luke, someone from the gym stopped by earlier, your prelim match got moved up a day. Tried to call and message you, but it said it couldn't be delivered. Brendan and I already had ours, so I'm sure you'll do fine.'

Well, good thing she left the note, he'd been planning on sleeping through the day just to try and catch up on some energy. A glance at the clock told him it was just past four o'clock. No point in trying to get back to sleep now if he was going to be waking back up in another couple hours to get ready for the prelim match.

Instead, he went to the lobby area of the center and rented a video-phone booth for two hours. The fee was large, growing even more when he designated it as an international call. Once the door was sealed, he quickly keyed Dub's information into the device. Luke sat down and faced the screen as an image of his friend appeared. He was going to make use of the time he paid for. At least it was a reasonable time for her back in Unova?

* * *

/AN/ So that was a thing that I wrote. I don't think I need to include Luke's prelim battle? Grovyle vs first gym tends to just kind of sweep.

Anyways, I'll keep this one short, no rants from DSaur today. Go ahead and drop a review or PM me to let me know what you think I'm doing right or wrong! Because these are glorified rough drafts for the most part, I know they're filled with mistakes and errors. And apparently repetition and tautology too. So yeah, chances are I won't catch errors unless they're pointed out my that one guy I let read them early or I catch them in the Doc Manager. Unless I know what to look for going forward.

So yeah, hit me up. Just know that I tend to type very, very long replies. The one's who've messaged me know exactly what I'm talking about.

I have discovered the line break. This is the change we've been waiting for.

But shout-out to maycontestdrew for her continued reviews and keeping me thinking about this story enough to keep writing. I'm not saying that I won't write if I don't get reviews, I'm just saying that I tend to write more when I get reviews and/or PM's that remind me that I have notes and an outline that I need to turn into prose. So yeah. Also no The World this time because I think I'm going to try to make each one relevant to what's happening in the chapter, and I don't really have one for this.

Anyways, I'll be gone until I'm back again. Stay safe y'all.


	12. Chapter 12

The prelim was just the same as it had always been, except he knew exactly what was coming. Well, the rock theme was a surprise. Given the gym's relation to the trainer school, Luke had assumed it would be either normal type or counterpick. Regardless, Rebecca made short work of the gym trainer and her Geodudes.

He nearly slid out of his jacket when he was approaching the suite, but the twinge in his arm reminded him to keep it on. The rookies didn't need to know or worry about his injuries. If he'd had his way, they never would have seen the results of protecting Wally and the Ralts. His job was protecting them, not making them worry.

At least, that was his job with regards to the rookies. There was still no real progress on his part for Dubs or the agency. Talking to her again had been good. Getting to see her face during the conversation was even better. She had scolded him for getting injured twice since the last time they spoke and berated him for his impulsiveness. Without condemning the actions themselves, or the reasons, of course.

The familiarity between the two helped him as much as actually talking about what had happened. And it helped that he hadn't woken her up this time with the crankiness that would have entailed.

When he opened the door into the suite, his nose was immediately on alert. Sour cheri and sweet oran had been cut, but there was no scent of his favorite mush. He wasn't alarmed by what he saw, but he hadn't been expecting it.

The rookies were having the fruits in cold cereal and milk likely from a Miltank or Tauros, chatting quietly like children not wanting to wake their parents. Were they worried he was still asleep and didn't want to wake him? Then he noticed that they had set a place for him at the table. Huh. He'd been planning on making a batch of oatmeal, but it'd be rude to refuse them like that.

The chatter ceased when Luke fully opened the door and walked in. "May I?" he asked, motioning to the empty place at the table before sitting down. The rookies had another one of their silent conversations. Words, sentences, and paragraphs condensed into simple body language and slight movements.

"We thought you were still in your room, so we made breakfast for you." Brendan said, gesturing to the closed door, "I guess it's a bit moot since you've obviously been up longer than us."

"It's all good, I didn't make anything when I got up, and I am starved." Luke poured the carton of milk onto his cereal and put a small spoonful of it into his mouth. It was just as he feared, and he couldn't stop the teasing tone from edging into his voice. "I guess I hadn't noticed that one of you has a sweet tooth, huh?"

The conversation that followed seemed odd to Julia. The other eighteen-year-old was giving weird half-answers to the questions they asked about the training trip he'd taken without them. He answered part, dismissed another part, and gave generalizations about the other parts.

Plus he was wearing his jacket. After weeks of hearing him complain about the heat when he was in a t-shirt and vest, he'd gone back to the navy-blue jacket they had first seen him in. He hadn't suddenly adapted to the heat, that much she knew. At least, judging from the sweat that still shone on his forehead and the back of his hands.

Was he trying to hide the injury from the three of them? He had no way of knowing they already knew about it, but why would he hide it? Some distorted sense of pride or power? It made no sense considering they had seen the previous injuries he'd sustained when they weren't around.

Yet here he was, wearing a jacket that had to be incredibly uncomfortable in. "Out of curiosity, did you suddenly adapt to the heat? I haven't seen you wear that jacket since you got the vest in Oldale Town."

Blue eyes suddenly dropped to his cereal bowl as he poked at the sugar bombs inside it. "You remember how I mentioned struggling with nightmares and having a few tricks to help?" Blue eyes met steel as he addressed her question. "This jacket is probably the single most familiar and comforting thing for me after I have one. It doesn't help when I have one, and it doesn't keep them away, but it does help me calm down, find my center, and distance myself from the nightmares."

His answer both satisfied and irritated her. His answer was both honest and incomplete. What he said seemed to ring true, yet there was something missing from it, another angle. He _was_ trying to hide the injuries. Which again, made no sense. But if he was going to open up like this, then she might as well press the advantage, right?

Even as she opened her mouth he cut her off. "And we're done with training until after our gym battles. My prelim battle pretty much confirmed that we're actually overprepared." He took a moment to scratch the back of his neck. "Which is something I wish I could say about my first gym battle."

Then, in a mumble she doubted either of the other rookies picked up on, he added "Stupid counter-picking chefs and their counter-picking monkeys."

And she didn't have a response to that.

That night, while Luke was taking his 'very enthusiastic walk', the rookies gathered around the table with their drinks of choice. While they nursed their hot drinks, they discussed what they would do about Luke and his night terrors. Brendan was suspicious, May was trying to understand despite no shared experience, and Julia was concerned.

"I think we should go ahead and activate the Luke Watch." May started, setting her mug down, "Both for our safety and his. Except now we'd almost have to extend it to the night to keep track of the nightmares. And I have the perfect candidate in mind to keep an eye on him when he's sleeping."

Julia leveled a glare at her friend. She didn't really mind the teasing anymore, but the point of this conversation was to establish ways to keep everyone in the group safe. Not play matchmaker. "Much as I'm sure you'd love to have me spy on him in his sleep, that's not what this is about. Besides, doesn't that sound like an invasion of his privacy?"

The younger girl laughed before she responded, "I didn't mean you, you silly love bird." A brown and steel eyes looked to May in confusion. "I meant Brendan."

The confusion only got worse. "Why me?" Brendan asked as a frown took over his face, "I'm the most suspicious of us to do it at night. I'll take the day shift during training when I normally interact with him."

May tried to clarify, "Because after we're done here, we'll get your dad to stop renting the suites for us. Then the two of you will have to share a room and bam, easy eyes on him."

"Why would we stop getting suites? Besides, I'm not sure the entire idea of keeping eyes on him at night is a good idea." Julia said, draining the last sip of her coffee, "He's the entire reason Brendan and I aren't still in Littleroot. Doesn't this seem like we're betraying some level of trust?"

"Doesn't it seem like he's betraying some kind of trust disappearing for a days at a time and getting hurt?" Brendan countered.

"Doesn't it seem like these conversations about him without him here are doing that already?" May added on.

Julia sighed in defeat. There wouldn't be any beating these two. "Look, I'm all for keeping everyone safe, but I don't agree with spying on him when he's sleeping. Besides, we all saw how he was thrashing when he had the nightmare. It'd be so easy for him to accidentally hit one of us if we were anywhere close to him."

The argument continued for half an hour until they tabled it in favor of deciding who would be with Luke during the daylight hours. Brendan volunteered to keep an eye on him during training, because of course he did. May agreed to eat with him if they ever split up for food. Which left Julia with the mornings and accompanying him when he took walks.

Which was fine until Julia had a realization. "He's going to pick up on this pattern awfully quick, isn't he?" That simple question brought the conversation to a full stop. The three looked at each other. Their feelings about the last hour and a half wasted were summed up by Brendan in a single word.

"Fuck."

* * *

Thursday came far sooner than Brendan and Julia thought it would. Brendan had spent the time watching the few videoed matches between Roxanne and her challengers while Julia followed Luke's lead and relaxed with her pokemon.

She had them out in the suite, took walks with them, and made sure they were well rested for the battle they had ahead of them. She decided to trust in Luke's confidence that they were ready. Yet she couldn't help but feel underprepared and overwhelmed when the gym clerks escorted her to a side gym as her warm-up area. It was the same one that she'd had her preliminary match in.

Julia knew that Brendan would probably be making his way to the main arena as she let her pokemon out to limber up and get ready. Oliver, ever loyal, ever protective, came to stand beside her leg. He knew he was her strongest teammate.

Despite not knowing what exactly would be happening, he understood that a battle was coming. The mood of his trainer gave everything away. She was nervous and confidant simultaneously, yet she still had the core of power she'd always had. It wasn't like the cold trainer's power nexus, a typhoon ready to make landfall, or clouds waiting to storm. Nor was it like her brother, a calm yet hungry strength, like the earth before a quake. Nor the kind girl's, bright and warm. It was different, ebbing and flowing between power and confidence to reservation and nervousness. He would do his best to make her stay confident in both him and herself.

Luke and May found their seats in the second row of the stadium to wait for Brendan to enter the battlefield from the challenger's entrance. It was a rocky field about the size of two football fields side-by-side, with a smaller section about the size of a short course pool marked in the middle for battles that wouldn't take up as much space. The bleachers looked like they could hold several thousand people for a big ticket, higher tier battle. Only about a hundred were there to watch the tier-one line up for the day.

Brendan and Julia's battles would certainly both be help within the smaller area. Luke was contemplating asking to be allowed the full battlefield, to have more maneuverability and make losing to ring out more difficult.

"So, a couple weeks back you said that you're single," May's voice cut him from his contemplations, his head jerking away from the field to look at the girl, "but is there any interest not being single?"

"At the moment? Not particularly." Luke said, returning his eyes from May's green orbs to the bland rocks on the field below, "There's more important stuff for me to worry about right now."

He could make out the disappointed expression on May's face in his peripherals. "So you aren't looking for someone who can make you happy?"

Luke couldn't stop the snort from coming out in reaction to her question, then giving thought to the question. "I mean, in the long run? Maybe. But at the moment it'd be more of a distraction." May's frown made him realize what she was getting at. Again. "Look, I'm not planning on dating anyone while journeying here. I already tried it back in Unova, and as I think I mentioned when you initially asked, it didn't exactly work."

"Then maybe they just weren't right for you? People make mistakes you know."

Brendan entered the field just as she asked the question, a pokeball, net ball, and nest ball hanging at his waist. Luke was astounded by the confidence that someone with no real accomplishments or experience his junior was able to project. He wasn't relaxed, but he was far from jittery or antsy. He carried himself as though his victory was predetermined. Not the least common sight for a tier-one challenger, arrogance wasn't a rare trait among trainers, but more often than not the arrogant challengers would be humbled by the gym leader.

Luke sighed. Humbling the boy would probably fall on him compared to a tier-one gym battle that Luke _knew_ that Brendan would win.

"What, realizing I'm right about dating?"

"No, I just let my mind wander to more important thoughts," he responded, "besides, I barely know any of you. Maybe focus on how much you like Brendan and making that work instead of how I have no interest in dating Julia or anyone else in Hoenn? Besides, I hardly know her or Brendan, and I know you even less. Relationships don't just come out of nowhere."

May's face took a distinct scarlet shade as she looked away from Luke to the battle that was starting below. Brendan's Wingull, which he had named Usopp at some point, facing off against a Geodude. "Well, how long did you know your ex before you dated her?"

"I plea the fifth."

Luke was met with a confused expression after his statement. He sighed before explaining, "It's a law the citizen's government in Unova established a century or two ago, history was never my strength. It says that a defendant doesn't have to testify against themselves or their spouse."

"I still don't understand."

"It means I'm a hypocrite and was trying to avoid saying so. I only knew her for about three months before we started dating." The hopeful look on May's face was enough to Luke add on, "And I think it was a mistake that we started dating when we did."

"What makes you say it was a mistake?" May asked, green eyes flicking between Brendan on the battlefield and Luke beside her, but never looking at the pokemon themselves. Which is what made the senior trainer realize something about the conversation.

She wasn't just doing it to pry about his past, although Luke had no doubt she was happy to do that too. She was trying to distract herself from the battle going on below her. Take her mind away from the pointless violence that her friends were willingly taking part in.

"Neither of us were ready for dating." Luke decided to help keep May's mind off the battle in front of them. He'd humor her questions until the battle finished. "I was fresh out of a bad relationship, it was her first one, and we rushed into the relationship without considering what it meant to be in a relationship on the road."

The younger girl's eyes were trained on him, burning with the fire of curiosity. "What did it mean, being in a relationship on the road? Why was it any harder than a normal one?"

"It's not something that's easy to explain," he said, keeping his eyes trained on the battle, "but in short, it's hard to trust someone enough to date someone. Add traveling and the understanding that you're responsible for the safety of you both? It's hard. Plus you're practically living with that person right off the bat, with all the stress that induces. If you're in a group larger than just the two of you and there's an argument, people take sides. It can fracture the group, cause a break or moment of hesitation when you can't afford it."

Salazar was just finishing Roxanne's last pokemon, an Onix, when Luke turned to look at May. "So even if I were interested in Julia beyond friendship, I wouldn't pursue it, and would recommend to others to not pursue it. It can be hard enough just keeping yourself alive out there."

May started frowning at the last part of his statement as Brendan accepted his Stone Badge. "It's hard enough keeping just yourself alive, your words. So why did you agree to help take care of Julia and Brendan?"

The blue-eyed boy let a sigh escape his lips. "Because I don't worry over keeping myself alive. Yeah there are pokemon here that I've never seen before, but there isn't much that I haven't dealt with before." He paused for a moment, shaking his head with a small smile. "I sound incredibly arrogant, don't I?"

May's eyes mirrored her grin as she poked him in the arm. "You just said that your reasoning for not dating doesn't apply to you. So why not go for it? There's not really anything for you to lose."

"Look, only one thing that I said about the risks doesn't apply to me, and I've got plenty to lose. I'll say it again. I have no plans of dating Julia. Do I think I might become attached enough to you guys that I'd refer to you as close friends? Sure." Luke's irritation was bleeding into his voice. It was nostalgic in a way to see someone playing matchmaker, but he didn't remember it being quite this irritating.

"Well, fine. Then tell me about one of these exes, either the one from when you were journeying or the one from before." Luke recognized the fine line May was treading. She was still pushing him for information about his romantic interests and his past, but thankfully left the topic of Julia behind. He could work with that.

"I mean, there's also a third one, but I don't really count that one. Middle school and not really understanding what dating means meant I asked my closest female friend out. Didn't last long, we realized that neither of us really liked each other like that." Luke said, smiling as he leaned back into the bleacher seat. "So, do you want to hear about the one who was crazy or the one I'd still consider one of my closest friends?"

The Unovan teen realized it felt good to talk about Unova. _Home_. He never used full names or specific places just in case they were to do some digging, but he was actually happy to be able to share some of his experiences with someone. He always had to stay in the present when he spoke to Dubs, giving updates on his journey in Hoenn or trying to escape from his nightmares, because the past was painful for them.

But May wasn't asking about that. She would have if she had known, Luke knew that for certain, but she didn't, was innocent of those trials. So he got to tell some of his happy and crazy memories.

Luke was lost enough in conversation that he didn't notice Julia had entered the battlefield until after her match had started.

As Julia walked through the challenger's tunnel, her mind raced with the possibilities of how the battle would go. She knew Oliver would be the anchor of her team, with Kord providing support in a two against two battle. She just had to trust in their ability and instincts the way Brendan trusted in himself or Luke trusted in the rookies' readiness.

She had asked the blue-eyed boy for tips or recommendations for her battle the night before, and he had been so damned casual about the entire process of a gym battle. He had just shrugged and told her that it was just another battle, so why should she do anything differently?

That answer had done nothing to calm her nerves and infuriated her besides. She wasn't like him or Brendan, with their confidence or strength. Julia knew that, in theory, she was the weakest battle trainer in their group. Without Brendan's ability to analyze and break down a situation or Luke's ability to train his pokemon to adapt to anything, she relied on her pokemon entirely in a battle.

But even though she didn't have confidence in herself, she did believe in her pokemon. Oliver was strong and sturdy, vicious when he fought, and with a type advantage. Kord could slow down opponents to facilitate his laziness and possibly win by doing absolutely nothing, with enough bulk to keep him in fights that his lack of effort would otherwise disqualify him from competing in.

Oliver's pokeball was in her hand as she walked onto the battle field, then to the center of the smaller section to shake Roxanne's hand. The gym leader introduced herself and said some pleasantries, but Julia could barely respond. She mostly just nodded along with a nervous smile, clutching Oliver's pokeball for support.

She was young for a gym leader, probably in her low or mid-twenties, standing just above five feet, her brown hair going down her back separated into twin-tails by pink ribbon. Dressed in what looked like a school teacher's uniform, with a knee length black dress, red tie, and pink leggings.

In short, nothing like the image her father set for what gym leaders looked like. Then again, she wasn't the spitting image of what a challenger should look like, so who was she to judge? So she walked back to the challenger's box where Brendan had stood just a few minutes ago. Her grip relaxed when she thought about her brother. He'd already done this and had only been a trainer for the same length of time as her. Her pokemon could do this. _She_ could do this.

When the referee dropped the starting flags, Julia simply dropped Oliver's pokeball to the ground, bouncing back into her hand as it released the powerful mudfish. He looked back at her and they locked eyes, steel grey with black. She nodded to him, and he charged at the pokemon Roxanne had summoned, a Geodude.

The look and the nod had conveyed more than enough information. _Be careful, go for it_ and _understood_ was the gist of their 'conversation.' The normally hyper-aggressive Mudkip spat onto the battlefield, making mud to fling at the rock-type.

Roxanne was calling for her Geodude to counter-attack with rock tomb, but Oliver never gave it the chance. Pressuring the dual-type with water guns and mud slaps, forcing it to stay mobile and focus entirely on evading the super effective attacks.

The leader and challenger were opposites on the battle field. Roxanne dictating moves and strategies to her pokemon opposed to Julia's passivity, allowing Oliver to dictate how the battle would progress.

Geodude could only dodge for so long. Eventually it was blasted by one of Oliver's water guns and sent tumbling back towards Roxanne, struggling to lift itself from the ground, arms straining to hold its own weight. The gym leader decided to recall the pokemon instead of subjecting it to more battling.

Then she sent out a Nosepass, what Brendan had told her was the strongest pokemon she used against tier-one trainers and likely to be moved to one of her tier two teams before long. Julia saw something in the other woman's eyes. Even from twenty-five meters away, she could tell that Roxanne was livid. But she didn't understand why. She had been reasonable and kind when they met in the middle.

This fight was more of a slugfest: Nosepass wasn't fast enough to evade Oliver's attacks, but Oliver wasn't ready for the speed and precision of the rock-type's counters. Julia remained steadfast, although worried about her Mudkip. Roxanne shouted commands to her pokemon, accompanied by taps of her foot.

That's when Julia realized that the moves Roxanne was calling out didn't align with the attacks her pokemon was using. It acted based on the way she tapped the ground, using her voice as a distraction so that neither her opponent or their pokemon could determine what they would be doing.

Julia was too far away to hear or feel the pattern and didn't have time to figure it out by sight. Oliver might be able to do something with it though. "Oliver!" Her voice carried better than she expected it to, and she was legitimately surprised by the strength it carried. "Don't listen to what she's saying, focus on evading and look for a pattern in the vibrations!"

Roxanne's shocked expression was enough to confirm her theory. Granted, the rocks impacting the ground would create enough vibrations to throw Oliver in a loop for a little while, but he was speedy enough to get around the worst of the attacks. And she dared to hope he was clever enough to figure out the pattern and exploit it.

Sure enough, after just a couple more minutes of tense silence from both trainers as Roxanne's foot hammered against the ground and Oliver evaded Nosepass' attacks, Oliver figured it out. Julia could only tell because of how he started moving before the attacks were being launched, getting in a shot of his own here and there. After a full minute of her pokemon not landing a single hit on the mudfish, she recalled it. The return beam was accompanied by silence and followed by applause from the spectators.

As she returned to the center of the now muddy field to receive her badge, it was easy to pick out Brendan, May, and Luke in the second row, all standing and clapping for her. It brought a happy smile to her face.

"I have to admit, I misjudged you after the first round." Roxanne said, handing her a stone badge. "I thought you were being carried entirely by your pokemon's brute strength and were trying to rely entirely on type-advantage to win. But you proved me wrong, you're only the second person so far to figure out my command mix-up. You've earned this."

Julia's smile was wide, but as she looked at the shorter woman she still couldn't help but be nervous. "I'm not the best with giving commands, I normally do let my pokemon fight with their instincts and methods. But it seemed like Oliver was going to lose if I didn't figure out why what you were saying and Nosepass was doing were different." She shook her head slightly, trying to re-center herself in the present rather than in the battle. "Besides, Oliver still deserves all the credit, he's the one who actually figured out the pattern. I just pointed out that there probably was one."

The gym leader smiled and offered her a business card, with an address in Rustboro City. "It's the address for the trainer's academy I'm the battle professor at, you're more than welcome to drop by if you're staying in Rustboro." Roxanne squinted at her for a moment before speaking again. "Out of curiosity, how old are you? You seem a bit older than most of the tier-one challengers."

"I'm eighteen," Julia said, trying to shrug off the uncomfortable question, "I had to start a bit late to travel with my brother. Why does it matter?"

Roxanne smiled, "It means that I can register you in my pokenav legally. I don't mean to sound creepy, but I'd like to keep tabs on you as you go through the gym circuit, maybe have a rematch at some point. I think that you'll get pretty far if you keep it up and are as talented as I'm thinking you are. Is that ok with you?"

Julia confirmed, and left after she and the gym leader registered one another.

* * *

Luke had congratulated both rookies and paid for the celebration dinner that night, going to sleep early to wake up just before sunrise and go through what had become his traditional pre-gym routine back in Unova. Hot oatmeal with no berries or other fruit with cold water, hot shower, and methodical dressing, piece by piece.

The only action outside of his traditional routine was wrapping his left arm with fresh bandages. The wounds had closed and stopped bleeding, but he didn't want them completely exposed where the vulnerable skin would be irritated by both the sun or a stray attack. He stopped himself when he reached for his jacket. He didn't know what he would do if it was torn or damaged. So he left it on the bed, sliding on and zipping up his vest instead.

He was surprised to see that the other three were ready to go spectate his match when he was set to leave at nine o'clock, but he didn't question it. Honestly, he was more surprised they didn't ask what was wrong with his arm, but he wouldn't question it. Their curiosity came and went in odd bursts and phases. He didn't think he was like that as a rookie, but he also had no objective person to ask. Either in Hoenn or back home.

The warm-up area was standard and plain, no different than the ones that once unnerved him so much in Unova. He sent out his full team to stretch their limbs, knowing he didn't need to give any instructions. Rebecca stood loyally by his side, calm and collected. Franz ran circles around everyone, working out his excess energy. Shigure flew around the space several times before coming to rest on his shoulder. Matthew stood still, waiting to be recalled. Serra, the Whismur he'd caught after discovering it had followed him from the cave he'd been ambushed in, stood beside Matthew, poking him and whining at the Nincada and anyone else who would listen.

Rebecca would solo Roxanne's team. No other member of his team would be able to do much damage to her rock types, especially if she brought out that Nosepass she'd used against Julia. This would be far from the most difficult gym battle he had taken part in, but that didn't mean he would take it easy. Far from it. Expectations were made to be subverted after all.

When he was being escorted to the challenger's entrance by a referee, he spoke up. "So, I have an odd little rules question."

The referee gave him a simple smile and nod, saying "Go on." Luke assumed the man expected him to ask a basic beginner's question. Boy was he in for a loop.

"So, back in Unova," Luke started, watching the man's face contort in surprise, "the trainers were made to enter the field during the battle except in specific circumstances, and if they went out of bounds, it was treated as a disqualification. So, here in Hoenn, am I required to enter, allowed to enter, what?"

"Well, that's certainly not the question I was expecting," the referee said, looking at Luke from the corner of his eye, "but the short answer is that it's optional. You are not required to enter the battlefield, and if you go out of bounds you won't be disqualified, but you will be asked to withdraw the pokemon currently in battle. Does that make sense?"

Luke shrugged as he walked onto the rocky terrain. "Not really, but I don't plan to get ringed out anyways. Thanks ref."

Roxanne was dressed in the same fashion she had been the day before. Not that Luke had any room to speak, having only substituted the vest in place of his jacket. He stood a full head taller than the woman, which made the opening handshake and greetings odd for Luke. He wasn't a tall man by any means, so he wasn't used to looking down at someone when he shook hands with someone.

"Luke Williams from Unova, here for a tier-one Lily League gym battle for the stone badge." He said, figuring he would go for the standard, polite greeting for gyms he'd learned back in Unova, although he barely got to use it there. Not for lack of knowledge, just an abundance of energy and desire to battle. He might as well start things off right here, right?

Roxanne smiled as she shook his hand, "Nice to meet you Luke, I'm Roxanne, leader of the Rustboro City gym. I'm new as the gym leader here, but you're the first challenger I've faced to use the formal greeting for a battle without being told to for the script. Not your first circuit?"

Luke allowed himself a small laugh after she said that. "That's one way to put it. I'm starting fresh in Hoenn, looking forward to a good battle and a good circuit."

"Well then, good luck! I won't be pulling any punches against an experienced trainer in a tier-one battle, so stay on your toes."

The two separated and returned to their sides of the field, although Luke stayed in the battle area, not entering the challenger's box. When he got there, Rebecca emerged from her pokeball almost of her own accord. Across the field, Roxanne frowned.

"Aren't you worried about me knowing what your pokemon is before the battle?" she called out, not patronizing, but genuinely concerned for the integrity and fairness of the battle. At least, Luke assumed as much. From about twenty-five yards, it was hard to determine her exact tone of voice.

"Nah," Luke called back, turning around to face her directly, "it doesn't matter if you know what I'm going to do if you can't stop it." He slid the blue vest off and tossed it to the side, outside the ring, the BW logo on his shirt in full view of the world.

He looked to the sky after giving a thumbs up to the referee. He didn't need to see the signal flags, the crack of Roxanne's pokeball opening would be enough of a sign the battle was starting. Here he stood. Here he'd fight. "Here we go Dubs," he said to the overcast sky above them, "I'll do you and everyone else proud again."

Luke brought his eyes back down to his opponent, his frigid blue stare crossing the battlefield. The gym leader didn't seem deterred though. The crack of a pokemon being released and the scent of a brewing storm initiated the battle.

The Unovan was immediately moving beside Rebecca, if a little behind her. As always, he kept Rebecca between himself and the opponent, after all, he'd felt what it was like to be hit by a move, and his pokemon were sturdier than him.

The Geodude initially hesitated when it materialized, unused to a trainer accompanying its pokemon into battle, but Roxanne reassured it, speaking words that Luke couldn't be bothered to hear. He didn't need to: the rock-type's actions would speak for it soon enough.

Rocks were flying as trainer and pokemon darted around the battlefield, sometimes together, others splitting. He didn't know how much time had passed, but it had been enough. As he jumped backwards to avoid a rock, he flashed Rebecca a thumbs up.

Within moments the Geodude had been drained into unconsciousness, Rebecca looking no worse for wear. Roxanne's mouth was moving, and her brow was creased. She was irritated? Didn't matter, he'd focus on the finisher she chose for him. He assumed it would be the Nosepass that Julia had faced, given how strong it seemed compared to the Onix that Brendan had fought.

The living compass materialized in front of him. It towered over him, nearly two feet taller than the teen. Luke committed in that moment that he would not be going near it. It could simply fall on him and either crush or incapacitate him.

"Rebecca," he barely registered that he spoke, his voice cold and hard, "Focus on evasion. We can nickel and dime it. Victory through attrition."

The Grovyle likely looked like nothing more than a green blur to most of the spectators. To Luke's trained eyes, she was deftly avoiding the hurled rocks and brutish swings of the clubs that were supposed to be the Nosepass' arms.

But either it or Roxanne had noticed the pattern in Rebecca's movements, each attack coming closer to landing. Julia had told him something about finding a pattern in the attacks, but that didn't matter at this point. "Rebecca, drop the finisher!"

Luke thought it was fitting that his voice sounded like a stone for this gym battle. Rebecca changed her pattern and rhythm, suddenly leaping towards the behemoth and under its arm, bringing her own back as the leaf's glow became apparent to everyone who hadn't already noticed.

There was no real reason to do it like this other than giving the illusion of a more exciting battle, possibly making him seem like a weaker battler than he actually was by taking extra time with both. Fury cutter built power with each successive hit, similar to the way a pokemon using roll out continued to build momentum and force with each pass. Sure she could have won far earlier by focusing on the type advantage and using absorb, but Roxanne was surely ready for such a straightforward stratagem. If Rebecca had latched onto the wrong spot to drain it and Roxanne had simply ordered her pokemon to fall down? His gecko may have been squashed.

Rebecca put on a burst of speed, bringing the blade on her arm directly across her opponent's side as she darted behind it for another pass. A deep gouge was left in the stone. The glow on her blades grew brighter as her pupils contracted. She was ready to tear the colossus apart even as it fell face-down.

The capture beam stopped her before she could do any further damage to her opponent. Luke relaxed his posture as he looked at the ball in his hand. One of the downsides of such moves, beside their initially low power, was that they became harder and harder to control. Rollout was simple, the faster the user was moving, the harder it was to control and direct that speed and momentum.

Fury cutter was different. Based on what CH and Bel had said so long ago, using the move caused the pokemon to produce a hormone or chemical, Luke couldn't remember which they'd said, that caused the user to slowly lose control and enter a frenzied state. It could be overcome with sufficient training, but Rebecca wasn't there yet.

Across the field, Roxanne was kneeling beside her pokemon, applying first aid salves and feeding it the excess oran paste once the wound was covered. Luke strode across the field to stand next to the short woman and offered her a sitrus paste. She accepted it with mumbled thanks as Luke inspected the wound.

It was a serious injury. Dark, grainy blood seeped into the applied pastes, the cut going several inches deep. Had Luke allowed Rebecca to attack again, the result would have almost certainly been a fatal injury. As it was, once the first aid was completed, Roxanne returned it to one of the heavy balls she wore at her belt.

"Challenger Lucas Williams," she said, giving his much larger hand as firm of a shake as she could manage, "congratulations on defeating me. According to league rules, I have to give you an official Hoenn League Stone badge as symbol of your victory." She projected her voice for the benefit of the cameras that had recorded their match. Then, she presented the small metal symbol to Luke.

It looked so much like a coin, the teen couldn't help but flip it, catching it in his closed fist at eye level. It was likely made out of the same amount of metal as the Unovan badges, but its roughly circular nature made it seem so small to the teen. "Thanks Roxanne. And sorry for the scare, Rebecca's still working out the kinks of fury cutter, still trying to figure out how to control the rush and frenzy."

Roxanne shook her head as she waved the apology off. "It's all good. Rhodes is still alive, which is what really matters. Although I'll admit to being confused why you'd go that route instead of just using absorb and finishing the battle faster."

"I'd like to say something about trying to plan around you having a strategy to counter it. Really I just didn't want Rhodes falling over and crushing Rebecca." The truth was often disappointing.

The petite gym leader couldn't stop from laughing. "Well, battle and congratulations aside, how old are you?" Luke's blank eyes and frown told her she needed to explain the question, preferably now. "I don't mean to sound like a creep or that I'm coming on to you. I just have to ask before I can register you in my pokenav. You're incredibly talented, and I'd like to keep up with your progress through the gym circuit, would you mind if we registered each other?"

Luke laughed, scratching at the stubble on his chin. "Hate to say it, but I don't have a pokenav. I had been using my communicator from Unova, but it recently shattered, haven't had the time to pick one up since. And I'm eighteen, nineteen in November. But one of the other people I'm travelling with is eighteen, you could register her for updates and keeping track of us? At least until I get a 'nav of my own to register you in. Actually, you fought her just the other day, her name is Julia Carols."

Luke considered going directly to the Devon Store to buy a pokenav but decided against it. That could wait for later. For now, he was hungry. And he would be feast-

"Yeah, that's him over there! That's the guy!"

He grabbed three pokeballs from his belt, he wasn't sure which ones they were, but any member of his team would put up a fight. Julia, Brenan, and May all reached for their balls just a moment after Luke did. No rest for the weary.

* * *

/AN/ Well, that's the chapter. As always, un-beta'd and for the most part unedited. Hope it was as enjoyable to read as it was to write! If you did enjoy it, go ahead and let me know!

Reviews are preferred and appreciated, followed by PM's if you want to start a conversation about the story or any of the characters. MCD can vouch for the character and world insight that comes from talking to me. I guess favorite and/or follow if you want to be updated whenever I post a new chapter.

Other thing. This is the largest chapter yet. How does everyone feel about longer chapters? When I first started writing, I planned to keep each chapter around 2.5-3k words. I've since started thinking of each chapter as being closer to 5k, then this one hitting 7k with the chapter material alone. Just trying to get a feel for what you guys would want to see. The frequency of chapters coming out won't really change either way.

So go check out the poll I set up on my profile, vote for your preferred chapter length.

**ZA WARUDO!**

Interregional travel is incredibly dangerous. The strongest wild pokemon are where there are the fewest humans where they can grow and evolve unabated by human interaction and interference. This means that very few people can afford to travel between regions, and few trainers travel in multiple regions. The stronger trainers can go between by providing security for the trip. Wilds are territorial for the most part, with the stronger ones not hesitating to attack the loud piles of metal encroaching their territory. Planes and boats lose to wild Gyarados, Dragonite, Tentacruel, Salamence, etc. The world is dangerous. Trainers need to be too.

The note has begun to move-

**ZA WARUUUUUUUDOOO!**

So, the tier system. You could challenge the gyms in any order you want for the appropriate tier. If you're battling for your first gym badge, you battle the tier-one team. This is me making sense of someone like Brock. In the Kanto games, as we all know, he is the first gym leader, with his strongest pokemon being a Lvl 13 Onix. Yet he holds the same title and rank as Giovanni. Whose pokemon are more than 30 levels higher. No. Especially when in the Johto games you come back and he's the second strongest gym leader. That Geodude and Onix weren't his strongest pokemon. And the pokemon Brock uses in tier-eight aren't his strongest either. So his tier-eight team might look something like:

Onix, Aerodactyl, Golem, Kabutops, Shuckle, Sudowudo.

With his full/real team looking something like:

Steelix, Aerodactyl, Tyranitar, Golem, Rhydon/Rhyperior (depending on how people feel about non-Indigo pokemon), Omastar.

So yeah, hope that makes some sense.

The note has begun to move again…

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Leave a review, drop a PM, vote in the poll, let me know how you're feeling about the story. I love getting messages, and love talking about ideas and theories. So go ahead and drop a line, I'm here to talk between my assignments.

As always, shoutouts to maycontestdrew for her constant reviews!

Well, I'll be gone until I'm back again. Stay safe y'all.


	13. Chapter 13

In short order, Luke discovered that the people attempting to ambush him were doing so with kindness. They were the families of the three people he'd encountered in pursuit of the Aqua grunts, thanking him for finding their loved ones in the wilderness. Which really made Luke question the validity and honesty of Hoenn's anonymous tipping service.

They assured him that they figured it out on their own, presenting the water bottle Luke had left with the man whose arms were now both in casts. His name was right there, clear as day. They'd used the database of trainers registered for the gym circuit to find the image on his trainer card and find him before he left Rustboro.

Despite wanting to remain anonymous for anything related to Team Aqua, he had to hand it to these guys. They were good.

The four trainers got to meet all three families of the people Luke encountered. Even the family of the woman who was dead when he found him was grateful he'd provided the means for them to bury her.

The three people were the owners of a small ferry company that took trainers and travelers from the Petalburg outskirts to the Dewford Island and Slateport City. The island was south east of Petalburg, and more importantly, housed another gym to challenge. It had apparently been a profitable company until Team Aqua called for a boycott, for some reason. They didn't seem to know why, or at least weren't saying.

Being friends with a group of people who could take them across the sea was incredibly important, especially since as a group they lacked any water transport pokemon. One of them had even offered ride vouchers to have them transported to Dewford, free of charge. He recognized the sincerity and kindness behind their offer, and the importance it carried. The teen just wasn't quite sure what to do with it.

It was an incredible gesture, truly an example of receiving good for doing good.

Luke couldn't take it, the smothering kindness. He made up an excuse for why he needed to leave, promising to return as soon as it was done. The Unovan teen couldn't remember what he told them. Something to do with getting a pokemon checked out? Needing to double check the door was locked at the suite? Buying groceries?

His excuse didn't matter. What mattered was that he was out of the spotlight, didn't have two dozen people surrounding him, spewing information that he had no hope to retain. Names, positions, pokemon, it had all been going over his head.

Luke's escape led him to sitting on a concrete bench in the downpour he'd sensed was coming during his gym battle. Blue and white cloth stuck to his body like a heavy second skin. He'd removed his contacts once the rain started getting in his eyes, baring his mis-matched eyes to the world.

Stuck in his own thoughts, he hardly noticed when the old man approached. "I take it you didn't actually need to run an' yer Whismur put to bed?" he asked as he sat beside Luke, crutches leaned against the side of the bench, his tan rain slicker keeping him safe from the storm.

"No. I just needed to get out of that room." Luke wasn't going to lie to the man. It would have been easy, crafting a new excuse, but he didn't have the energy to do so. "The noise, the people, it was a sensory overload. And I didn't want this kind of attention, that's why I tipped anonymously."

That being said he was not going to be entirely truthful either. The main reason he reported anonymously was to avoid attention from Team Aqua. Well, avoiding it when he wasn't confronting them.

It would be safer for everyone that way.

The old man studied the teen sitting beside him. Luke was sure the man noticed the sudden change in his right eye from blue to silver, yet there was no comment.

"I think I understand what yer getting at lad. Yer tryin not to make waves, don' want ta rock the boat?" he asked, placing his hand on Luke's shoulder. "Spotlight makes me shiver too lad. Why even someone as old as me still spends most o' my days on deck."

Bright old eyes met tired young ones as the man offered his hand to Luke. "Name's Briney by the by. Proper founder and captain of the shippin' business we run." The elder man had a surprisingly firm handshake. Luke hadn't noticed before, but the man's hands had such thick callouses he assumed came from working with tools, ropes, and machines as his livelihood. "And if yer willin to listen to an old man, I'm thinking we might have a chance to help one another."

* * *

It took Mr. Briney an entire hour to return with Luke in tow. Which was conveniently long enough for the assembled families to lay an early dinner out and settle down to more manageable energy levels.

Which is why Julia was upset when the two came back and made their announcement. Order once again erupted into chaos as people shouted different opinions and offered congratulations.

Mr. Briney had decided to sponsor their entire group.

From what she could tell, it wasn't as lucrative as Luke's Unovan sponsorship that allowed him to spend almost as he pleased, but it was far from nothing. The shipping company had been incredibly successful until the Aqua boycott, and were no doubt hoping that sponsoring up and coming trainers would help bring business back and break the boycott.

Dinner put on hold, it only took another hour or so until she and Brendan were presented with the paperwork and asked to sign. Another hour passed as her brother poured over each word of the contract, searching for deception where she knew there was none.

The company had selfish reasoning for offering the sponsorship, but she could tell there was no malicious or deceptive intent. So she signed before Brendan was done reading, much to his irritation.

"It'll be six to ten business days until all this paperwork goes through the system," said Ethan Mare, the man with both of his arms in casts, "but there should be no problems for you Julia." He paused for a moment, watching as Brendan signed the paper. "On the other hand, Brendan, since you aren't eighteen yet, we'll need one of your parents to sign off and approve of the sponsorship."

Brendan waved the requirement off. "I can run it by my father back in Petalburg, it'll only take a couple weeks to get there and back if we're not slowing down to train."

"What's this, Brendan not planning to train at every presented opportunity?" Luke asked as he entered the room, placing a stack of papers on the table in front of Ethan. "Sorry for the delay, had to double check with my other sponsor if I was allowed to accept sponsorship from another company."

"And are you?"

"She used a lot of business words that I don't know that boiled down to yes, but I'll have to drop the sponsorship once I leave Hoenn. Also said something about not being allowed to collect a salary from another company?"

Julia didn't expect the uncomfortable feeling in her gut when Luke mentioned leaving Hoenn. She didn't know why it surprised her. Hoenn wasn't his home, it stood to reason that he'd eventually go back to Unova. Back to whatever friends and family he left behind that he never talked about.

"I also need to have a jersey that isn't just a shirt to not cover up the other logo," he continued, giving her no time to sort out her internal unease. "Preferably something like a zip up jacket or vest. I guess a hat would work too, but those come off so easily in battles."

* * *

All in all the day had been exhausting. It started early with Luke's gym battle, continued with the overly thankful company/sponsor, and was winding down with the four eating a poultry stew. All four of them were drained, hardly conversing as they ate. Then Brendan decided that peace and quiet were overrated.

"I'm going to start heading back to Petalburg tomorrow, get the sponsorship forms signed by my dad."

May frowned in concern. Julia sighed. Luke choked on the stew.

"We aren't ready to head back out yet." Luke said once he got the food the rest of the way down. "I haven't restocked food or first aid yet, it'll be at least a couple days until we're ready."

"I said 'I', not 'we', for a reason." Brendan said, folding his hands and leaning forward in his seat. "You've mentioned that people traveling solo move through the wilds faster. I remember how to get to the stream, and once I'm out of the forest my map gets more reliable on getting me back to the city. I was planning on going alone to get this done quicker."

Julia pushed her bowl to the middle of the table before leaning over it to almost glare at her brother. "Luke's also said how dangerous it is to travel alone in the wilds. That speed comes at a cost. It's too dangerous for you to go by yourself."

"I'll be able to handle myself, there are plenty of trainers who go solo even when they only have one or two badges." Brendan reasoned, looking between Julia and Luke.

Julia didn't know exactly why Brendan wasn't looking at May, but she had a few guesses. The younger girl looked like she was about ready to either leave the table to cry, smack Brendan, or both.

The older male sighed as he stood up and took his bowl to the sink, apparently not interested in finishing his meal. "Brendan, look. It isn't safe to just head out on your own like that, and I told your mom I would keep you safe. I can't let you just go solo yet."

"You also said that it would be up to us when you'd taught us enough that we wouldn't need you anymore."

"I don't see where you thought I was asking a question here, this isn't safe."

"I don't see where you think I was asking for permission. Besides, what are you going to do, force me to stay in Rustboro?"

"I'd prefer not to-"

"I'll go with him."

May's soft voice cut through the boys' argument surprisingly effectively, making both turn to her in surprise.

"My pokemon are still at a hundred percent. Haven't fought any gym battles, haven't been under stress." She continued when she saw Luke open his mouth to reply, "Besides, I've had my pokemon longer than either Brendan or Julia has, and have gone between towns on my own before. We'll be safer together."

The blue-eyed boy looked like he wanted to contest the point, but released a sigh instead, eyes turned dowm. "Fine. But I don't like this, especially with how recently we got attacked in those woods. And we're going to have practice battles tomorrow morning before you leave. Hopefully that'll make me feel a bit better about this."

After that, Luke retreated to his room. His mood was difficult for Julia to figure out. Beyond just being unhappy with the situation. The way his shoulders had tenses, hands figeted, and eyes flicked around.

He was either scared or nervous, she'd have to piece together which one it was later.

Julia snapped back into the moment when her dex buzzed with a message.

M: Let's take a walk

B: Why are we messaging when we're all within five feet of each other?

J: Isn't it a bit late for a walk?

M: So that he can't hear us

M: It's just to get where we can talk without him hearing us. We've got some things to talk about

* * *

Luke stood across the field from May, rolling the nest ball in his hands. He'd already sent Julia and Brendan off to a different battle plot in the park to have their practice battle. Now all that was left was to have his own against the researcher's daughter.

Except he knew that he would win a battle against her. It wasn't arrogant of him to think so: his pokemon were fighters every one and were being trained to maximize their abilities in combat. May's weren't. They were getting stronger during the journey, but their instincts weren't being honed to the degree of Luke's pokemon.

Besides, May didn't even _want_ to fight. She was opposed to the basic idea of pokemon battles. Yet there she stood, ready to battle, Torchic by her side and Beautifly on her shoulder. He looked down at the ball in his hand.

Rebecca could probably solo both of her pokemon type disadvantage be damned. Honestly, she had a shot to solo all of _his_ other pokemon. Her evolution had given her more than enough speed and power to do so. She was a fighter through and through, and he'd known it since he'd hatched her.

Well, that might be a bit ambitious. He figured it out when she started picking fights with anything that moved, and most things that didn't.

Inspiration struck him as he walked across the field, extending his hand to May. She shook it while looking at him suspiciously.

"There's no real point in having this battle, we both know you aren't a fighter." Luke said. He continued when May opened her mouth to protest, "I don't want to make you fight, and even if your pokemon can battle and have the instincts to do it, they haven't been trained for it."

The boy held the nest ball out to May. "But Rebecca has been. She'll be able to keep you and Brendan safe better than any other pokemon we have." A lie, but she didn't know about the two he'd brought from Unova, so she wouldn't really know. "She might not listen to you, but she's an incredible battler, even without trainer input."

"I can't just take your pokemon! What if you need her, isn't she your strongest? Besides, you'll need to keep yourself and Julia safe without us and-"

Luke's laugh cut her off. "I'm honestly touched that you're considering my safety here too, but you don't need to worry about me and Julia. We're both building battle teams that'll be able to protect us, and Franz really is stronger than you think, you just haven't seen him when he cuts loose. We'll be fine without Rebecca taking up so much training anyway, it'll let our other pokemon catch up a bit."

May's face was still filled with confusion and a hint of suspicion. Really. She wasn't suspicious when she saw the bandaged arm but was when he was trying to help her? Geez. "I really am worried about you two. I remember being a rookie, and I remember being in way over my head. I don't want either of you to get hurt and sending Rebecca is the next best thing to being there myself." He sighed before continuing, looking up at the sky instead of at her. "I did make a promise to his mother, but I also think of you two as friends."

This time when he brought his eyes back down to May's, he was smiling. "And friends don't let friends go into the wilderness where they could be mauled by a pack of Mightyena unprepared. So go on, take her."

Instead of taking the pokeball, May wrapped her arms around Luke in a hug that he was not expecting. It was an awkward experience for the boy. His hands were still between them, and he wasn't sure if he should leave them, pull them to his side, or return the hug.

He decided to slowly pull his arms out and gave May a couple pats on the back. The tension was climbing beside the heat that crept to Luke's face. Time to either diffuse it or make it explode. "Hey now, don't want to ruin Julia's chances, huh? What if she came over and saw us like this?"

May sprung back with a laugh, her face red and the corners of her eyes wet. Had she been crying? What had he done to upset her so much? "You're right, I can't afford to make the ship sink. Speaking of my OTP, let's go find her and Brendan so the two of you can flirt some more."

Luke waved her on. "You go ahead, I'm going to take Franz on a walk, give him a chance to stretch his legs."

As soon as the rookie was out of sight, Luke tossed a net ball and a pokeball in front of him, Franz and Heracles emerging from the light. "Heracles, follow May and Brendan when they leave the city: keep them safe. Franz, let's take a walk."

* * *

May's arrival went unnoticed by Brendan and Julia as caught up in their battle as they were. As always her eyes first went to Brendan.

The boy's frustration was clearly evident as Salazar struggled against Kord. The two pokemon had apparently abandoned their elemental attacks in favor of smashing into each other with pound and tackle.

Comparatively Julia's face was blank and focused, eyes narrowed in on the battle. Except she wasn't really looking at the battle. More like looking past it, through it, and into her brother. May couldn't quite hear what the older girl said, but whatever it was helped Kord turn the tables against Brendan's starter and knock it to the dirt.

"Hey guys!" May called out, walking closer to where the Shroomish was sitting on the Treecko, "Luke gave us the ok!"

Brendan whipped his head around to look at his friend. "What do you mean? He doesn't even know if I beat Julia or not."

Julia just shrugged and recalled Kord. "Sounds good." Then her eyes locked onto the nest ball in her friend's hand. "Isn't that…?"

She rolled the orb in her hands a couple times before responding. "Yeah, it's Rebecca. He's loaning it to us because, in his words, her being with us is the next best thing to him coming along. He also said something about his other pokemon needing to catch up."

"He doesn't expect us to train her, does he?" Brendan asked, almost glaring at the pokeball, "Because there is no way I'm taking training time away from my team to help a competitor when he isn't helping one of mine."

May could see Julia resist the urge to smack Brendan upside the head. "I doubt she would listen to either of you anyway. Luke always seems particular about how he leads his team."

"He mentioned that, but he also said that she's more than capable of fighting without commands." May said, holding the ball between the three of them. "Now let's go get everyone's pokemon healed up before we head out."

None of them noticed the spectator, watching from behind a tree.

* * *

Julia had expected it to be awkward when May and Brendan left her and Luke alone. Instead, she found that the two of them meshed into a comfortable silence quite well. And she wasn't going to be the one to complain about being left alone with the person she liked.

Luke, on the other hand, seemed to alternate between being comfortable and stressed She couldn't really blame him though. His strongest pokemon was away from him and half of his group was on their own for the first time without him to protect them.

They didn't talk much over the weekend, mostly just idle chit-chat and pleasantries. Then they took a walk on Monday morning.

Their plan was simple. The two of them would walk over to Devon Corporation so Luke could buy a pokenav to replace his destroyed X-Trans-whatever. Then they would get someone at Devon to transfer the data from the busted device to the nav so that he wouldn't lose 'all six of his contacts.'

But there was a roadblock on their walk to the corporate building. Luke tripped over it.

It was a small box that held two even smaller Skitties. Julia felt her heart break when she saw them, heard their pitiful mewls.

Her heart and head both went into overdrive. This was like a scene from a romance movie. She and Luke would both adopt one of the kittens, then their pokemon would be best friends and make sure they never stayed apart for too long.

Then she heard Luke mutter curses under his breath as he massaged the knee that he landed on and she snapped back to reality. A Skitty wouldn't be the best choice for his team, especially if he had to train it from the ground up. Besides, the Whismur that had replaced his Cascoon already filled his normal-type slot. He didn't need or want a Skitty.

At least, that's what she thought until she heard two capture chimes. Her best response to Luke holding two now filled luxury balls was to look at him confusedly and supply a "Huh?"

The other teen shrugged when he saw her face. "I was checking to see if they had an owner, can't catch a pokemon that's already been caught." When he realized his response hadn't answered Julia's question he continued, "Which meant they were abandoned here. I don't need one for my team, but I figured I'd at least get them to an adoption agency or send them back to Dubs. Unless you want one?"

Julia barely managed to nod her head and hold out her hand for one of the balls. Her fingers curled around it and brought it up to her eyes. The poor thing was feral, and hardly more than a kit, nowhere near ready for training. But she would be able to give it a home and family with her other pokemon. That would be enough.

Meanwhile, Luke pocketed the other ball and motioned for her to keep up. "C'mon Jul, I need that new communicator."

Julia wasn't sure why, but a shiver went down her back and heat crept up her neck when he used the nickname. Based on his face, she wasn't even sure if he recognized what he did. "Are you really going to give the other one away?"

He sighed. "I'm not a good trainer for it, it'd be better off with someone else either here or back in Unova." He looked down at the ball for a moment, letting it roll in his palm. "We have a feline pokemon back home too. Purrloin and Liepard. They're nice until they try to steal all your stuff. Or decide that your legs would make such perfect scratching posts. But I don't need to worry about this little guy doing something like that, do I?"

The corners of his mouth slowly turned upwards as he spoke, as though he were looking through the pokeball and into the pokemon inside. Julia shook her head as she watched. "No, you don't. But these two hardly seemed more than kittens, they aren't ready to train and fight yet."

Blue eyes shone with mirth as Luke laughed. "They'd surprise you. Most pokemon have some level of fighting ability from birth from their survival instincts. If trained properly a pokemon of almost any age can be a fighter. But I think you're right, these little ones aren't ready for that. Do you think May would want this one?"

Luke met her questioning look with a shrug. "I mean, you already have that one, and May has no interest in battling, so this seems like her speed."

She shrugged back. "I was just surprised you thought of her off the top of your head. I would have suggested it if you hadn't."

"I guess it can't hurt to say I'm a bit worried about them," Luke said with another sigh as he looked at the kittens. "but I'm both overly confident in their abilities and in Rebecca and entirely sure that something is going to go wrong. If that makes any sense to you."

"Sure. You know they're strong but also that the world is dangerous no matter how strong." She replied as they walked, the entrance to the Devon Building in sight. A recognizable human shaped energy mass was about to walk in until he noticed them. "Side note, there's going to be someone here that's very excited to see and meet you."

* * *

After the man rambled for nearly an hour, he finally managed to say that Mr. Devon, the CEO, wanted to meet the four of them. Then quickly added that just the two of them would do. And how sorry he was that the elevator was out, they would have to take the stairs up to the top floor where his office was.

It wasn't hard for Luke to tell that Julia was uncomfortable, but he couldn't put his finger on why. She had clearly met this man before, had even grinned smugly when he shot 'help-me' glances to her while Winston smothered him with handshakes and a hug and far more words than any one person should be able to spew in a minute.

Maybe it was the knowledge they were about to meet the wealthiest man in Hoenn? Luke doubted it, she personally knew a world renowned Pokemon Professor, the youngest of those that pioneered the expansion of the pokedex. Sure, Professor Aurea Juniper was younger, but she wasn't part of the initial team, just an assistant at the time. So Julia didn't strike him as the type of person to be intimidated by fame.

It wasn't until they were right outside the man's office that he realized it. Everything taking place here had to do with their encounter with Team Aqua in the Petalburg Woods. It was the only thing left that made sense to Luke. It wasn't anything to do with the company, and everything to do with her own experience.

Without really thinking about it, he reached out and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. When steel eyes turned to meet his own, he gave a confident smile and a single, knowing nod.

Then Winston opened the door to Mr. Devon Stone's office.

"Good morning, trainers." Mr. Stone said, standing behind a massive oaken desk that was filled by neat stacks of paperwork and several monitors, "Come in, come in. I must tell you, I'm incredibly excited to meet the trainers responsible for ensuring the safe passage of our top researcher."

The CEO was an imposing figure by all meanings of the term. He was close to six and a half feet tall, with a chiseled face and broad shoulders. His arms were thick as tree trunks, almost stretching the sleeves of his grey business suit. Black hair was striped with silver, giving the man a distinguished appearance.

After shaking hands and sitting down, the executive started asking questions about them. Simple things mostly. Age, experience, what kinds of pokemon they used, stuff like that. And he always responded with a compliment or other form of flattery.

Luke realized that the man _wanted_ something from them. There wasn't really any other reason for him to butter them up like this. He looked over to Julia and realized that she was not nearly as good at hiding her suspicion as he was. Her smile faltered every couple moments, steel eyes were harder and more narrowed than they normally were.

"As much as it pains me to ask after how much you've already helped me and my company," Devon said, standing up from his desk and pulling a parcel out from a drawer, "I do have a favor to ask of you. You're taking the gym challenge, correct?"

When both teens confirmed with a nod, he continued. "Then would you consider making Dewford Island your next stop, and deliver this to one of my employees? There is a gym there, and I'd be more than willing to pay for your passage to and from the island."

"Not to be rude sir," Luke said, looking at the offered package, "but why do you need us to deliver it? Surely you could have it shipped or send it with one of your employees and have it in his hands much faster than we would get it there."

"Not at all, Mr. Williams, I completely understand. My employees are not trainers for the most part. Even those who are, such as Winston here, are far from being classified as powerful."

"Mr. Stone, we'll take it." Julia cut in, much to Luke's surprise. She had been quiet for the greater part of the meeting, probably because of the nerves he'd picked up on earlier. He'd figure it out later. "Who is it we're delivering it to?"

"I'm sure you've heard of my son, Steven Stone?"

* * *

**/AN/ Another chapter done and in the bag. Brendan and May have split off for the time being, while Luke and Julia do plot in Rustboro.**

_**ZA WARUDO**_

**Most people can't afford to be full time trainers based solely off their prize winnings in battles. Food and gear can be expensive to purchase and maintain. This is where sponsorships come into play. For the most part, think of Sponsorships like a they function in eSports. A team/company signs the player, then supports them with travel and products. In return they get greater exposure and grow a consumer/fanbase and often a cut of whatever winnings they earn. Some trainers, like Luke, are sponsored by multiple companies, and both provide different services for him. The one from Unova gives him a salary and budget for him to use while in Hoenn, while the Briney Shipping Company is providing him transportation and greater exposure. Hope that makes sense.**

_**The note has begun to move again…**_

**As always, shoutouts to maycontestdrew for her reviews! If you like Nuzlockes, I'd highly recommend her story, **_**The Iron Knight**_**. It's fantastic and fun.**

**Additional shoutouts to maycontestdrew and Aclux for their fantastic questions and guesses about what's happening in the story!**

**Remember, drop a line if you have anything you'd like to say, or if you just want to say something. Reviews and PM's are welcome anytime!**

**Anyway, I'll be gone until I'm back again. Stay safe y'all.**


	14. Chapter 14

The two trainers were sitting in the half-empty suite finishing breakfast at the table. Their bags sat side by side at the door, packed except for the supplies they'd be picking up after they ate.

Luke had been busy enough fiddling with his Pokenav, compliments of Mr. Stone, that Julia was sure he hadn't picked up on her mounting panic in the two days since meeting with the Devon Company CEO.

Everything had fallen in place for her mentor: in a two-day period, he had won a gym badge with minimal effort, gotten a new sponsor, received the newest model 'nav, and gotten his old communicator's data transferred over. Completely free. He was even blissfully unaware of the corruption that was giving him the technology.

It was common knowledge in Hoenn that the Lily League had been incredibly corrupt under Champion Steven Stone. He had risen to power quickly, having been a trainer and executive in his father's business years before challenging the gyms, using his Metagross in a tier-one battle.

He swept through the tournament, then the Elite 4. The only true resistance he met was when he reached the former champion, the Dragon Master Drake.

But he won that too, and became the champion at 25 years old, presiding over the trainers and pokemon of the region as champion and effectively holding the cities hostage with the Devon company.

Champion Stone used his influence for the next seven years to grow his company's wealth and his own power as champion. Professor Birch couldn't risk his research being halted to make an attempt, which left only Drake to challenge Stone, but he never could reclaim his title. Until Wallace Winstrate returned the Sootopolis gym to his mentor to challenge the league himself.

Norman had told Julia and her family that he hadn't even considered Hoenn, the region that he loved more than his native Johto, as a destination until Wallace dethroned Steven. Months later, he was inaugurated as the Petalburg City gym leader.

And all of this was cultural context that Luke was ignorant of. He didn't realize they were playing with the devil, or the possible danger they could have been in had they refused to be couriers for Devon Stone. His son might not be the champion any more, and his company may have been forced to give back to the communities and release the stranglehold they had on the people of Hoenn, but he was still one of the strongest people in Hoenn. If not the world.

"This thing makes no sense." Luke's voice brought her back to the present and out of the modern history she'd been reminding herself of, "It takes up so much space for so little screen, the keyboard is clunky, and the UI is unintuitive." He released a sigh, as though he were trying to forcefully expel the tension he was experiencing.

"I don't see how a competitor hasn't made a better product than this. Or rather, I really want my X-Transceiver back." He looked at her own device critically. "And mine is supposed to be the _new_ and _improved_ version."

"There isn't really another big tech company in Hoenn to compete with Devon. If it says anything, Brendan, May, and I have been using our pokedexes instead of our 'navs." Julia explained, but based on his reaction he didn't really understand the problem.

"Well, whatever. It'll do until I can get something better." He closed the device and slid it into his pocket before standing up. "Time to go restock. Walk with me?"

She was more than ready to accept.

When they got to the mart, it struck Julia that this was the first time she saw Luke shop. His body seemed to move on autopilot, grabbing food and supplies, never breaking the conversation. Well, conversation wouldn't be the best word to describe it. Conversations imply that both parties are communicating.

Luke was talking at her as much he was to her, but she didn't really mind. This was a routine he was comfortable in, much like waking up to prepare oatmeal for himself. So she listened instead.

He talked about different preferences in camp dinners, the benefits of cooking over fires to using a camp stove, and the importance of knowing the berry ratio when making a cobbler in a cast iron pot. But the most interesting thing were the names he mentioned.

There was no dramatic reveal or sudden change. He brought them up of their own volition to talk about their eating habits. He still used nicknames, but that was fine by Julia.

"And Bel has an even bigger sweet tooth than I do. Always drove CH nuts when it was his turn to cook. B would eat anything. He did prefer it to have been soaking in hot sauce though, drove everyone by me and Dubs nuts. He ended up cooking the least out of us. Although that was mostly because he couldn't really cook worth a damn anyway." He paused for a moment to fish his wallet from his pocket, giving the clerk a smile and nod.

Once they were outside, he started talking again. "Actually, I don't think I've had non-camp food that any of you guys made now that I think about it. Right Jul?"

It took her a moment to process that he addressed her. "Huh? Oh. Um, no, I don't think so. There was the cereal we set out that one day, but we didn't actually make that."

The boy's tenor laugh poured from his mouth. "We'll have to fix that at some point. I may have only been making oatmeal and vacuum sealed camp food this entire time, but I think that adds up to something resembling a real meal."

"Well, no promises on my end." She said with a shrug. "There is a very real reason why I put out cereal the morning you weren't up and making oatmeal. And I wouldn't expect Brendan to suddenly turn into a cooking ace either, because he's barely any better than me."

* * *

Julia didn't realize how odd it was to be on the road alone with Luke until they were half way through the woods. It also gave her a chance to really observe him without May's teasing or Brendan pretending to throw up when Luke wasn't looking.

The peace from teasing and Brendan's suspicion of Luke gave her a new sense of clarity. The green of the leaves and blue of the sky poking through the canopy seemed all the more vibrant without distractions. Even the air tasted fresher.

Neither she nor Luke had heard from the other pair since they left Petalburg beyond communicating a simple plan of meeting at the Petalburg pier for the Briney company to take them to Dewford.

Luke seemed at ease for the most part, leading both humans' pokemon in light training while she took the part of an observer. The lack of the two other trainers allowed her to fully appreciate the way Luke operated in the wild.

Each step he took was measured, feet avoiding roots and fallen branches as though of their own volition, moving near silently and leaving no tracks on the ground. His head was eternally on a swivel, both appreciating the world around him and assessing the possible dangers it could produce. He afforded small smiles to the pokemon, and his eyes carried a warmth she wasn't sure had been present before.

Each pokemon had its own distinct personality, although his team seemed perturbed by Rebecca's absence. Matthew the Nincada switched between Luke's shoulder and scuttling beside Serra the Whismur. Shigure the Tailow flew in circles above the two humans, giving the occasional chirp down to Luke.

Franz was the odd one out. Instead of what she had come to recognize as his normal, playful nature, he stoically walked beside Luke. Every so often he would twitch or stray farther from his trainer as thought to break into a giddy run, but he reigned himself in every time.

With a start, Julia realized he was stepping into Rebecca's role. She was ever observant, always ready for a battle when Luke let her out of her ball. And the grey-eyed teen now realized what was happening.

Luke's team all put their trust in their trainer and one of their teammates to watch for threats. Much in the same way as she, Brendan, and May trusted Luke to react first and keep them safe. It made her wonder if Brendan had assumed Luke's role of protector while he was with May, or if she would herself if Luke wasn't there.

They ate vacuum sealed ravioli that evening. "So, a while back, when we were in Petalburg, you mentioned that you had some tips for dealing with nightmares. Would you mind teaching me?"

She didn't know what had prompted her to ask the question, but she had. Beyond simply wanting to talk to the other teen, find out more about him and his experiences, that is. Plus if she could decipher the mystery around him, maybe, she could end her nonsensical crush.

* * *

Luke wasn't quite sure what kind of ground meat was being held inside the pasta envelopes, but it sure wasn't Buffolant. It didn't have the same texture or taste. Which made sense, seeing as the creature wasn't found outside of Unova, yet he had expected them to taste the same regardless. Granted, that was on him. He should have known better.

"So, a while back, when we were in Petalburg, you mentioned that you had some tips for dealing with nightmares. Would you mind teaching me?"

His spork stopped halfway between his dish and his mouth, the ravioli sliding back into the sauce with a small splash._ That_ certainly hadn't been a dinner conversation he'd been expecting to have tonight. "I mean, sure. That is what I originally offered, right?"

Julia nodded and averted her eyes. "You did. I've just been losing sleep to them over the past couple nights, and May and Brendan haven't been here to help me calm down."

"You're having them again and waited this long to ask for help?" Luke didn't mean for his voice to sound quite so harsh, but it did. He smacked himself several times mentally. She had no reason to lie or mislead him. Besides, he had no room to talk about someone else's stubbornness when it came to asking for help. "Why didn't you ask sooner?"

She flinched away from his words, eyes buried in the sauce in her bowl. "I didn't want to disturb you, or make you worry about me. I know you're already stressed about Brendan and May being on their own. You don't have to teach me."

Luke sighed, and offered her a smile that she couldn't see and he didn't really feel. "It's fine, I'm overreacting here. Thunder and Snowfire, I'm the last person on the planet that should make someone else feel bad about waiting to ask for help."

When she still didn't look at him, Luke realized he would have to carry the conversation forward. "Let's start from the top. What are the nightmares about?"

He watched her take two deep breaths, running her hands through brown hair to calm herself down. "The one that happens the most is that I'm falling."

* * *

"Let's start from the top. What are the nightmares about?"

Well, Julia wasn't sure what made her think it was a good idea to launch the conversation without thinking through what she'd tell him. So she bought time, taking deep breaths and running her hands through her hair. If he recognized it for the stall tactic it was, he didn't show it.

She might as well lead with something that she was legitimately afraid of, right? That way the fear and anxiety she'd be showing would be genuine. And maybe she'd pick up a tip or two of how to deal with her fear.

"The one that happens the most is that I'm falling."

Steel-grey eyes finally returned to lock with cold blue. "I'm falling, and I can't move or slow down." She closed her eyes, feeling anxiety building in her stomach from just imagining the sensation. "But the worst part is that the ground never seems to get any closer. I just keep falling…"

As she trailed off, she gave an involuntary shudder. She was supposed to be learning more about him, not giving herself an image that she very well could have nightmares about. She barely felt the corners of her eyes begin to get wet.

But she did hear Luke as he stood up, the soft sound of his boots crushing detritus underfoot. He moved to the left first, she assumed to shut off the stove that had been boiling water for her tea. Then he came beside her and put a blanket around her shoulders.

* * *

He had no idea what he was doing. He hadn't really been in the position before where he was helping someone else cope with nightmares. So he did what his friends had done for him.

So he stood up, turned off the mini-stove, and grabbed the blanket out of his hammock. When he came back to Julia, she had started quietly crying, and softly wrapped her in the blanket. It was what Bel and Kat had done for him at different points, so he went for it.

Then he sat down beside her and put one arm around her shoulders in what he hoped came off as a friendly half-embrace. He wasn't sure if it was helping until Julia relaxed and leaned into him, turning her body to rest her forehead on his shoulder.

The tension both disappeared for a moment when Luke recognized she was relaxing. Then skyrocketed when he realized their proximity. He did his best to calm himself down.

"What are your nightmares about?" Julia asked, in a voice almost too quiet for him to hear.

Luke was lost for a moment, body tensed. He was tempted to deflect the question and justify it by saying this was about her, that she didn't need to worry about him. But he recognized the tremor in her voice. She was scared. Of him, of her own nightmare, he wasn't sure, but he didn't want to jeopardize her fragile composure.

"My failures." He said, his voice low and even. He felt Julia's head shift against his shoulder as he continued, "The friends I've lost, mistakes I've made. I relive them, feel the pressure and shame all over again. Two of them more than any others."

"Do you want to talk about them?" It was an innocent enough question given the circumstances.

"Not really."

She nodded into his shoulder before closing her eyes. After a few minutes, her breathing became deep and even, and Luke realized that she'd fallen asleep.

Luke looped one hand under her knees and brought his other behind her shoulders and lifted her up. He carried her to his hammock and set her down softly, more than willing to give up his spot for the night. The ground would do just fine if he did end up going to sleep.

The teen made sure his team was watching the camp site and walked into the woods with only Gojira's ball and his hip pack. There may not be any threats nearby that his team couldn't handle but having the extra layer of security couldn't hurt. It was just a matter of getting far enough away that the ball opening wouldn't wake Julia.

Plus he needed to call Dubs, or at least see if he could connect the pokenav to the Pokedex network to make that call.

After Gojira appeared in a flash of shadow from their dusk ball, it took a couple hours to connect the new device to the Pokedex and boost the signal. Dubs wouldn't be particularly happy that he was calling at six in the morning Unovan time, but it'd be fine. Eventually.

When her face filled the 'nav's screen, Luke smiled. "So I replaced my X-Transceiver with something that isn't nearly as good."

"I noticed, the camera quality is awful." Her unamused voice carried perfectly through his earbuds. Well, he'd tossed the dice, time to deal with the bad roll. "Care to explain why you're calling so early again?"

"Because any later and I'll probably oversleep." Luke said, even though he knew she knew him better, "And I needed to test if this thing could handle connecting. Plus I need a favor."

Dubs sighed, glaring into her camera. "You're lucky I was waking up early to get everything ready for a group coming in today. What is it?"

"Any chance you could send Bastion over?"

* * *

She didn't realize it until they arrived at Petalburg pier, but Julia had grown accustomed to being alone with Luke. Well, it wasn't just that, it was that she had become comfortable being around him, relaxed.

Of course, it was May who pointed it out to her while Brendan and Luke talked to Mr. Briney's son, Mr. Briney, who was the captain of the ship they'd be taking to Dewford.

"You two really are so cute, you know that?" the younger girl said, green eyes practically glowing with mirth, her new Skitty cradled in her arms. "You walk so close together, keep giving each other little looks and smiles. If I didn't know any better I'd think that you two had some fun during your alone time."

The heat slammed into her face like a charging Camerupt as she spun her friend by the shoulder so their backs were towards the boys. "May! We aren't even dating yet and here you are implying that we had-"

May's face lit up even more. "You just said that you aren't dating _yet_? As though there's a plan to be doing so in the not-too-distant future? Do tell."

Julia could only meet the raw enthusiasm by flushing an even darker pink and sputtering. She shot a 'help-me' glance to Luke over her shoulder without realizing the caliber of mistake it was. "That's not what I meant, and you know it!"

"What is this you didn't mean?" Brendan asked, tossing a white jersey with the Briney logo on it to his sister.

The only parts of the shirt Julia saw before it covered her face completely were her own last name and the number 4. She didn't bother removing it from her face, preferring to hide until she could regain control of the conversation. Except May was there to ensure that there was nothing resembling control in the conversation.

"She said they aren't dating _yet_. She used the word yet. Which means she's on board with it, and now you're the only one who isn't!" It was May's voice, and Julia figured it was a safe bet it was directed at Brendan.

"That isn't even remotely close to what I meant." Julia's voice came out much calmer than she felt. "I was just saying that there were a couple steps that got skipped over to be asking if we had sex."

Brendan started coughing on his water as May continued to smile smugly. "I'm just saying that instead of just denying it you pointed to something that needs to happen before you get there. You're just delaying it."

"Who's delaying what now?" Luke asked, holding up the party's passes onto the boat, offering them to the rookies. "I guess I'm sorry I took so long getting these, didn't mean to hold us all up."

Once they boarded, they immediately went to their rooms. Brendan and Luke were in one cabin, May and Julia in the one beside it. The wall separating the two rooms was pitifully thin, only offering privacy with regards to sight.

The rooms themselves were barely furnished. Two small dressers stood opposite the shared wall in each, and the boys' room had a folding card table set up in the center with four plastic folding chairs around it. In place of beds there were two hammocks, one hung over the other, at the shared wall. A wooden door stood in the wall, connecting the rooms.

Julia was excited to try sleeping in a hammock. Ever since the morning where she woke up in Luke's, she wanted to wake up feeling like she was floating again. Except the top hammock was a bit high for her taste. But she wasn't going to mention either of those to May. Unless she wanted to be teased into oblivion even more.

They went into the boy's room once they'd put their stuff down and sat at the card table. Brendan passed both of them a granola bar as Luke took a deck of playing cards out of his bag.

"This boat moves slow enough that it's supposed to take either four or five days to get to Dewford, according to the captain." He said, shuffling the cards as the rookies looked between his face and the deck. "So I figured I'd go ahead and teach you a game that every Braviary Scout worth his shorts knows. Just tell me: are you ready to learn Kantoan Rattata Screw?"

* * *

Turns out that they were not ready to learn KRS. Or at least they weren't ready to play it against him. In hindsight, he reasoned it was unfair to introduce them to a game based so heavily around raw recognition and reaction speeds.

Besides, they all improved dramatically over the span of the trip. They never beat him, but they were winning some of the stacks and sandwiches in each game.

It was the last evening of the trip as Luke laid in his hammock. Being on water always felt good in the past, but something was different here. It wasn't anything to do with the boat or the ocean, both were pleasant as he could expect. Rather, it was something to do with his charges.

There seemed to be some sort of disconnect between the three. As though something was driving them apart since his gym battle, but Luke couldn't put his finger on what it could be. None of them were acting noticeably different on their own or with him, just when it was the three of them.

Luke got out of his hammock, strapped his hip-pack on, and walked out of the cabin and up onto the deck. It was a clear evening, the silver moon staring down on him. He would understand it better if it were just between Brendan and Julia. Siblings fought sometimes, there was no reason they should be any different.

But May was wrapped up in it too.

Luke found little peace in staring into the horizon, having no way of answering his questions or getting out his anxious energy. Something felt wrong.

Something other than the rookies? He knew from experience that nearly unnoticeable environment changes could cause excess stress and tension in a group, but he couldn't proceed with that idea until he figured out what the change was.

He was fairly confident that it had nothing to do with being on the boat, or with having to share rooms instead of being in a suite. He sighed as he did his best to expel the thoughts. The sea would provide no answers.

The teen briefly pondered summoning Heracles but decided otherwise. It wouldn't really matter if the crew saw the pokemon, but he didn't want to take the chance of one of the rookies spotting either of them. Instead, he turned around to return belowdecks.

And promptly ran into Julia hard enough to knock her down.

Quickly recovering from his surprise, he offered her a hand. She took it and stood up with a smile.

"Sorry about that, didn't expect anyone to be sneaking up on me." Luke said lightly, flicking out his 'nav to check the time. 10:38. She was normally asleep by now. He slid the device back into his pocket.

It was hard to tell in the low light, but Luke thought she was flushed when he looked back to her. When their eyes met, she quicly broke eye contact, gazing out over the sea instead.

"Couldn't sleep?" She asked. The breeze blew Julia's hair into her face, stopping Luke from seeing where her eyes were anymore.

"Nah." he said, turning back to the ocean. "Not sure why, but I can't relax tonight. You?"

"Don't make fun of me," she said, grasping the rail and leaning slightly over, "but I don't feel like I need to. I'm not tired, just have too much energy I guess."

Luke couldn't be sure, but he thought she was smiling when she said that. She just seemed so peaceful and relaxed. "I wouldn't make fun of you for having extra energy. But I would ask if you have any idea why you have so much."

"Nope." Luke saw her shrug in his peripheral before she turned towards him, so Luke turned to face her. The new angle she stood at made her hair blow behind her head instead of across her face. "Hey, about the night we talked about my nightmares?"

Julia phrased it as a question, asking if it was a safe subject to talk about. Which surprised Luke, since she had been the one to break down. If anything he should be asking _her_ for permission. "What about it?"

She looked down at her hands, intertwining her fingers. "I realized that I never said thanks. Talking about it and you being there helped me sleep peacefully. I also wanted to apologize for stealing your hammock that night." Her voice was barely over a mumble, and Luke had to strain to hear it.

She was embarrassed by what had happened and nervous about bringing it up to him? Well, at least that made some sort of sense.

"It's all good, I'm happy to be able to help." He said, waving off her apology, "If you need to talk again, I'm here. And don't worry about the whole stealing my hammock thing. I'm the one who put you there, remember?"

Julia nodded as she leaned into Luke. They stood like that for a while: shoulder to shoulder with both hands on the rail. It was comfortable, peaceful.

Yet something felt off to Luke. As peaceful as it was, he still couldn't relax. It wasn't his proximity to Julia, or being on the ocean, or even being without Bastion. His nightmares hadn't been awful recently, nothing nearly as bad since Ewan's death.

So why couldn't he settle himself? It wasn't even the normal twitchiness or desire for action that normally came with his nerves. Instead it was just a tightness in his gut, a nagging feeling from the back of his skull.

"You asked me about my nightmares that night. Do you still want to hear about them?" Luke didn't know why he asked. He felt as much as saw Julia nod her head.

The Unovan teen took a deep breath before blowing it out over sixteen counts. It was an exercise he'd learned years ago, before he really considered being a trainer, that he used to calm himself. He needed to be as calm and centered as he could get for this.

"Imagine a dark expanse, a void where only you seem to exist." He started, looking up to the moon, "There's no ground or air, but you don't fall, and don't need to breath. Then come the voices and cries of people you know or used to know. You can't see them, but you know they need help, but you're powerless to move toward the sounds. After a while, they die out, until you're in an oppressive silence, until they all appear in front of you."

Luke sighed as he tucked one hand behind his head, still looking away from Julia. "Pretty soon after that they start talking and blaming you for things that may or may not have happened. I guess you could think of them as the personifications of my many mistakes and failures." His last sentence was accompanied by a laugh that felt empty, that he was sure didn't fool her.

The girl's response was to press closer to Luke, pushing past his arm so that her shoulder was pressed against his chest rather than his arm and shoulder. Then she yawned.

"Thank you for sharing that," she said, her voice suddenly sleepy, "now would you mind helping me back to my cabin?"

"No problem." Well, there was a problem, but he wasn't going to tell her that. "And what do you mean by help you back? You've been the one with all the energy here."

"Carry me?"

Luke snorted. "You have two perfectly functioning legs last time I checked, you should be able to walk to your cabin."

"Oh, have you been checking on my legs?" she asked with a smirk, leaning against Luke with a hand on his shoulder to steady herself.

"C'mon Jul, let's just get you to bed, you're as bad as May right now."

"But it's not a bed, it's a hammock."

"Not the point."

* * *

The town on Dewford Island was larger than Luke had expected it to be, as was the waiting list for gym battles against Brawly.

"Really though, what's up with everyone challenging Broly right now? The wait in Rustboro wasn't nearly as bad as this." Luke asked the rookies as they walked away from gym after adding their names to the list. "And Rustboro is a much bigger city."

"The culture here on Dewford is all about battling," Brendan said with a shrug. "There's probably a tournament going on or getting set up, a lot of those people would want a shot at the gym."

"Or," Julia cut in, "People want to get this gym out of the way before the wet season kicks in, the storms make passage between Dewford and Petalburg and Slateport almost impossible."

Luke shrugged and adjusted his cap. "Those both make sense. But it doesn't really matter, either way, we get to wait a couple weeks. Which means a couple more weeks of training to make sure we're ready."

His statement was greeted by Julia and Brendan's groans and May's snicker.

Aww, don't give me that," Luke teased, "we have to get ready for the gym! Besides, a little more training is probably the last push Oliver and Salazar need to evolve. Franz, Chocolate, and your Cascoon are all about ready too." When he saw that none of their expressions changed, he sighed.

"But the training can wait a couple days. We have a couple errands to run anyways."

"Wait, what errands?" Brendan asked, a crease appearing in his brow. He was doing his best impersonation of Luke's glare, and frankly, the older boy was both flattered and unimpressed.

"I need to find a good training spot for you guys, pick up some groceries for our stay here, get myself a fishing rod, and deliver-"

A high-pitched shout cut Luke off. The four turned towards the sound near simultaneously.

Then they ran towards it, each reaching for a ball.

* * *

**/AN/ And they're on Dewford! Sure to enjoy themselves for the entire time they're there, yeah?**

**If you have anything to say, go ahead and do it! Comments, questions, concerns quandaries, criticisms**

**As always, huge shout outs to Maycontestdrew for her fantastic reviews!**

**ZA WARUDO**

**So government in the Pokemon World. The way it's portrayed in the games and anime doesn't really make sense realistically, where the one in charge is simply the strongest. Instead, there's a citizen's government that regulates the economy, infrastructure, international relations, etc. So you know, govt. the way we know it.**

**On the other hand, there's the pokemon league, which regulates pretty much everything to do with pokemon. The champion appoints the E4, so long as they fulfill certain requirements, who in turn help the champion appoint the gym leaders. Gym leaders are essentially the executive branch of local government along with the mayors and/or town council. They often get to choose and train their successors, as seen with Juan training Wallace and then stepping aside for him to take over. On the flip side, the E4 can recommend a successor, but it's the champions prerogative as to who gets appointed, like when Lance kept Bruno, promoted Koga, and said so long to Agatha and Lorelei. Meanwhile each E4 member can challenge the champion once every six months without needing to collect badges. Meanwhile, the gym leaders have to step down temporarily and collect the badges except their own, then run the gauntlet.**

**Yadda yadda move again…**

**Anyway, I'll be gone until I'm back again. Stay safe y'all.**


	15. Chapter 15

**So, real quick, happy 2020! I know I'm posting this on New Year's Eve, but some people are already in the new decade. I haven't had much, but I really do appreciate all the support everyone is giving me here, through a review or just from clicking on the story. I've been having fun writing this, and I hope you all are enjoying reading it.**

**One of my goals for this year is to be more consistent with scheduling and regulation, with this story being a part of it. I'll be doing my best to update once a week, most likely on Tuesdays, but there will be times like this past week where I just never had a chance to sit down with my computer and upload even though I've had this ready for a while.**

**Side note, I'm probably going to have more of these top-of-the-chapter AN's to act as announcements I'm making as the author and leave the AN's at the bottom for notes about the story itself and the world.**

**Anyways, cheers to the new decade! Let's have some fun, yeah?**

* * *

There was not a member of the crowd that gathered that was not relieved the person hadn't been attacked.

That being said, Luke didn't care much for the reason the person screamed.

The person had been watching a television behind the window of a building, the brick exterior decorated with each of the standard ball types. Poke, great, ultra, and the infamous master ball.

Meanwhile, the screamer was busy talking rapid-fire and motioning for everyone else to look at the screen and share in his excitement.

The screen showed the finale of a battle between two women. One looked like she could be as young as Luke, her skin the distinctive Alolan tone. Her tank-top cut off just below her chest, leaving her stomach exposed. She had an Alolan flag wrapped tied around her hips as an apron-skirt, covering the short-shorts she wore underneath, her legs almost completely exposed. A huge pink flower was tucked behind each ear, contrasting with her black hair. She had an expressive face, contorting and reacting to everything that happened in the battle.

The other woman was her polar opposite. If the first woman was dressed as though she were going to the beach, the second was dressed for a ballroom dance. The incredibly pale skin of the slightly older woman could be seen only on her face and wrists, the rest of her body covered by a pale purple dress and dainty white gloves. Blonde hair was tied back in a neat bun with white ribbon that dangled behind her head.

On the screen, Luke could admit that the battle was exciting: a Dusclops fought against a Walrein in a miniature blizzard, massive attacks clashing as the two fought for control in the battle. Yet the two women, not dressed for a blizzard in any way shape or form in Luke's opinion, were unfazed. He could understand why the battle was entertaining. But not anything to scream about.

"C'mon Phoebe!" the man screamed at the screen, "C'mon!"

Even as Luke shook his head to dismiss the fanatic, he noticed that Brendan was walking into the building, Julia right behind him. May almost seemed to glare at the building, hesitating to follow her friends.

"Do we want to go in?" Luke asked her, blue eyes inquisitive, although softer than they normally were.

The girl in the bandana frowned and shrugged, her eyes flicking between her friends and Luke.

Luke sighed before he started walking toward the door. "Well, let's stick as a group. Besides, what's the worst that can happen? It can't be as bad as the sports fanatics back home."

"Well, I don't know about Unova," May said, walking carefully behind the older teen, "but these people definitely qualify as fanatics."

He figured out what she meant once he stepped through the door, under the sign that read 'Pokemon Battle Fan Club'. The door opened up to a huge room, about the size of his junior high cafeteria. The battle from the television outside was being projected onto a huge screen at the far end of the spacious room like it was a movie cinema.

By the Storm and Fire the occupants of the room were loud, and moving around enough that Luke couldn't pick out where Julia and Brendan were. Meanwhile, May seemed like she couldn't tell if she should break down or break out.

The Unovan made an executive decision. "I think they'll be fine on their own. Want to help me find a training spot?" He had to shout for May to hear him over the crowd, and the girl nodded, turning around and quickly walking back out of the building. Luke was only a step behind her.

The pair of teens didn't stop until they were at the outskirts north of the town. The sandy expanse was dotted with fihsermen, with the entrance to Granite Cave and its quarry further to the east.

After a couple minutes of simply looking around, Luke shrugged and released Rebecca, Franz, and Shigure to walk with him. May followed soon after with her Torchic and Skitty.

"Have you named them yet? I never really hear you talk to them, and you don't call their names out in all the fights you don't get in." Luke asked as they walked towards the cave. The sand was soft under his boots, but he knew once it got inside them he'd be struggling for days to get the gritty particles out.

"Yeah. Cinder," she said motioning to the Torchic, "and Pudding. My Beautifly is Prism."

Silence returned as they walked. They stayed far enough away from the fishermen and other trainers to avoid any incidental battles. It took about two hours for them to arrive at the cave mouth.

May stepped forward, as though to enter the cave, but was stopped by Luke's hand gripping her shoulder.

"We aren't going in yet. Caves are dangerous if we don't have the correct gear and a guide. Especially if we're thinking of training in there." Luke said, blue eyes looking past May and into the cave mouth. It was surprisingly well lit, openings in the ceiling allowing natural light in and a series of lamps illuminating what was left of what they could see.

The teen girl shrugged, green eyes meeting Luke's blue. "Sure. What did we come all the way out here for then?"

"I just wanted to get a feel for the area and how far it was from town." he said as he turned around to head back towards Dewford, "Now c'mon, let's get back to the suite. Hopefully Brendan and Julia are back by now."

* * *

Brendan and Julia's eyes were fixed on the televised match in front of them, projected onto the screen at the front of the hall. Julia never had been as into competitive battling as her brother, but she couldn't deny the feeling of awe seeing these two trainers battle gave her.

A man whose hair looked like a raging bonfire with a poncho the color of sand battled against a girl who looked like she was hardly Brendan's age in a pink dress and huge purple ponytail. Their appearances alone would have drawn spectators.

However, what made it so that her eyes couldn't turn away was the pokemon they were using. The man was using _something_ that was giving off so much heat the air around it was distorted, and it moved so fast that all she could see of it was a blur of red a white. The girl's pokemon was much easier to identify: a Haxorus, the dragon-type native to Unova whose head resembled an ancient battle-axe.

Julia had no real way of knowing, but those two pokemon and those two trainers were having enjoying the battle. She just felt it, understood it.

The announcer said something that she didn't care to pay attention to, and Haxorus landed a hit on the smaller pokemon. A dragon claw ripped through the haze of heat to send it hurtling to the ground outside the ring, a trench carved by its travel.

It was when Julia saw the girl with purple hair run onto the battlefield and hug her dragon that she realized. She wasn't like her brother, with his desire to be the best. Or like May with an aversion to violence and conflict. Not even like Luke with his desire to travel around the world training.

The steel eyed girl wanted _that_, what the purple haired trainer had. Joy with her pokemon, regardless of if they were in a battle or not.

She had only set out to have her own freedom and independence, but she realized now she was still as dependent as ever, just on a different person. Except Luke was leading her toward where she could be independent of him too, unlike how her mother had been. And the more time she spent with Luke, the more she realized she needed to be strong to be independent.

That is what it was, right? His strength allowed him to be free of everything except what he allowed in, like his sponsorships and friends. Which meant that _she_ would need to achieve that same level of strength.

So Julia made a promise to herself: she would become strong enough to decide her own fate, but not let it consume her happiness. She would be like the girl from the television, be both strong and happy.

Brendan tugging on her arm snapped Julia from her thoughts as he pulled her towards the exit. She pulled her arm free to walk beside her brother, the day outside having drifted into late afternoon since they'd entered. The exhibition matches between Phoebe and Glacia, Sydney and Drake, and Wallace and Juan had taken a couple hours, followed by that last battle that lasted nearly an hour itself. It had been an odd choice for a finale, given how high profile the matches before it were.

May and Luke were waiting for them at the suite, the latter making a salad as something was cooking in a pot on the stove.

"It really blows my mind," the Unovan said as he cut a bell pepper with his folding knife, "that you guys always manage to book a suite. Without fail."

He took a bite from a carrot before pointing the vegetable at the siblings. "I'll find out how you do it eventually. And don't worry, this one isn't going in the salad."

"In more important news, specifically for you Luke," Brendan said, ignoring the pointed vegetable, "Unova's going to be coronating a new champion. Alder lost the match just earlier."

That, the steel-eyed girl realized, must have been why she didn't know the participants in the final match. It was the Unovan championship.

The teen fronze where he stood, knife halfway through a vegetable. Julia looked into his eyes and saw something she hadn't thought would be there in any situation. At the very least she hadn't seen it there before. It was panic.

"Really? Who beat Alder? It's only been a few months since I was there, I might know them." Luke sounded calm, but knowing what his eyes betrayed, Julia could feel the edge in his voice more than hear it.

"It was a girl with big, purple hair." Julia said before Brendan could provide the actual answer. "She ended up winning with a Haxorus."

The panic in his eyes changed to relief and mirth. "Iris beat Alder? Geez, favorites much?"

"What do you mean favorites? Do you know them?" This time it was May asking, eyes narrowed at the back of Luke's head, although she seemed more curious than suspicious.

"I mean, yeah, I've met them both. Iris was training to be the next Opleciud City gym leader last time I saw her though. Guess she decided to skip up to the top. As for why it's favoritism, Alder helped raise her. She literally calls him grandpa."

"Ok, yeah, but how do you know them so well? Aren't they practically celebrities over there?" Brendan asked, adopting a similar look as May. He was suddenly suspicious of Luke again. Great.

"Alder is a nomad, the only time he was in the league palace or stadium was when he had to be for the tournaments or was challenged by one of the E4. Truth be told, most trainers traveling around Unova meet Alder, even if they don't recognize it's him." Luke turned around to put the salad on the table before straining the water from the pot, leaving pasta behind, before setting that on the table as well. "He makes a point of trying to remember everyone he meets on the road so he can pray for them and their safety, or some such thing. I had the, ah, fortune of meeting him several times."

The Unovan served himself some salad and pasta and motioned for the rookies to do the same. "Anyways, I found a couple training spots for while we're getting ready for our battles against Broly. We can either start on it tomorrow or later this week." Luke thought for a moment before continuing, "As a heads up, when we go we'll be gone for a few days."

"Are we going to train in the old iron mines?" Brendan asked with a raised eyebrow, serving himself a heap of pasta. "The operations got closed down years ago because they were disturbing the pokemon there, but now it's open to trainers."

"In a word? No." Luke said as he put a forkful of salad into his mouth, swallowing before continuing. "We aren't quite ready to go spelunking. Caves are bad news for the underprepared. Especially if we're planning on training while we're down there."

"Then where are we going to train?" Julia asked, pushing the food around her plate with her fork. It wasn't that she wasn't hungry, but she wanted to be able to participate in the conversation.

Luke shrugged. "The area around the mine, specifically the granite quarry. For the most part there are the same kind of pokemon, probably around the same average strength, and we don't have to deal with not being able to see where we're going or the potential for cave-ins."

"Let's have an adjustment day tomorrow," Julia suggested, twirling pasta around her fork. "Just give us all a chance to breathe without training or traveling or anything. We haven't had one of those since before our gym battles, at least not as a full group."

May's smile was wide and bright. "Sounds good to me, we could take a walk, have a picnic, play some games, interrogate someone, any number of things!"

"Well, now that we're being honest about interrogating me," Luke said, clearing his dishes, "I think I'll spend tomorrow going fishing or finding a specific training spot. Maybe both."

The green-eyed girl laughed. "I actually wasn't talking about you." She said, turning her gaze to Julia and Brendan, "But these two have some answers I need questions to."

"I won't even try to dig into what that's supposed to mean." The Unovan said as he moved to his room. "Anyway, I'm going to get some sleep. Night guys."

Julia watched Luke shut the door behind him. His entire demeanor had changed as soon as Brendan had mentioned the televised match, beyond the momentary panic she had seen. It wasn't clear to her what he was feeling, just that she didn't recognize him feeling it, or at least his reaction to it. She was sure there was something bigger going on, but she had no idea what.

Instead, she turned to her two fellow rookies. "So, resuming the program tomorrow? Who's got who?"

"I'd be game. Go ahead and get accustomed to whatever training spot he picks." Brendan said as he helped himself to another serving of pasta. "Since it's important to pick the best field of grass or best rock to train on I guess."

May frowned and pointed at them. "The three of us need to talk, and I do have some questions to ask you two about today. Either now or tomorrow, you two can pick."

"Let's get it out of the way now," Julia said, moving to the more comfortable couch with her salad. "Since, as we've been over, we need to stick in groups of two when we split up."

When Brendan shrugged in agreement, May gave a solid nod before standing up to look down at the other two rookies. "So, earlier today…"

* * *

Luke was incredibly glad the video phone booths were soundproof. Otherwise he might have woken up the sleepers in the building.

Dubs hadn't picked up when he called her. After a moment of irritation, confusion, and hesitation, he called Bel. If he couldn't talk to Dubs to figure out what had happened that led to Iris claiming that title, he could at least find comfort in talking to one of his closest friends.

To his surprise, Dubs was there when Bel answered the call. Both were dressed they way he knew they did for work: business casual for one, a jacket and jeans for the other. Long brown hair tied up in a ponytail, short blonde cut just above the shoulders. Piercing blue eyes seeming to look past the screen contrasted with bright green eyes that seemed to smile to Luke behind the pair of half-glasses.

It wasn't the first time he'd recognized it, but it struck Luke again just how different the two were. They were two of his best friends. He'd known Dubs for a bit more than two years, and Bel for much longer than that.

Their reactions to him snapping at them were similarly different. Bel was shocked for a moment before her brow creased in worry and concern, content with letting him vent.

Dubs was glaring into the camera, eyes turning hard. By the Fire and Storm she looked ready to lunge through whatever wave was being used to transport the signal.

After Luke had started crying in the middle of their shouting match, Dubs stormed out of view of the camera. She had probably left Bel's house entirely to distance herself from the screen.

On the other hand, Bel had talked to him in that low, even voice she had used to calm him down from a nightmare or the couple of cases his nerves were shot after a battle. There was a sadness behind her eyes that he wasn't used to seeing, and it pained him to know he was the reason one of his friends was hurting.

He said his goodbye to Bel and asked her to apologize to Dubs for him at 5:00 a.m. Hoenn time, two hours after he'd initially tried to call Dubs.

By 8:00, he was walking around the quarry with his team surrounding him, Gojira and Heracles tucked in his hip pack in their balls. The only thing he carried was a tackle box and old fishing rod he'd borrowed from the tackle shop in town.

He wasn't sure if he was going to train or fish for the rest of the day, so he might as well be prepared to do either.

Luke ended up finding a spot to do both on the other side of the quarry.

It was a quiet spot. A pond with clear brackish water that he could see the Goldeen and Magikarp in. The quarry to the east where he'd seen several Makuhita and Aron, and a lightly forested area to the west that was being used as nesting grounds for Wingull and Tailow.

The Unovan teen wouldn't concern himself with the politics of a league he wasn't in for the rest of the day. He wouldn't think about how upset he'd made Dubs, or the apologies he'd give her. He wouldn't think about the job he was in Hoenn to do, his family in Sinnoh, or the nightmares he was sure would come that night.

Instead, he would be in the moment, and enjoy it. He needed to do it, separate himself from his worries, push them away, and take control. He could do it. It was only one day.

Matthew, Serra, and Rebecca stood by his side as he propped himself up against a rock on the shore. The Franz and Shigure stayed within ear and eye-shot but began light exercise and training against wilds. Luke didn't worry about molding their training and instincts that day.

When his 'nav buzzed with a question from Julia asking where he was, he assured her he was fine before asking her if she read the sign on his door.

* * *

May couldn't make up her mind. On the one hand, she was irritated that their mentor had left before any of them were awake. On the other hand, she thought the way he'd done it was hilarious.

Beside her, Julia was fuming. "I can't believe he just left again! The last time he did this he came back with his arm torn half to shreds!"

Brendan shrugged, for once his white hat not covering his coal black hair. "It's just something we didn't plan for. In hindsight it's our own faults. He always wakes up before we do. We should have seen this coming from a mile away."

On the door to the boy's room, he had taped a simple message, written on a sheet torn from the pad of paper that was in each of the suite's rooms.

It read simply: "Gone Fishing" with a couple of what May assumed were supposed to be fish drawn made of circles and triangles.

* * *

Luke's first stop in town that night was the Pokemon Center for two reasons. He had confirmed that Dubs had sent Bastion and wanted to see if he had arrived. He hadn't. And he needed to make a change to his active roster.

After almost half an hour of indecision, he ended up sending both Matthew and Serra to the professor. Luke didn't need to send them both, but he didn't need to train a full team just to have them change around soon.

"Besides," he said to himself as he took a look down at the heavy and lure balls in his hands, "I have a feeling you two are going to put in work."

Catching Dart, the Magikarp, had been an accident. Luke knew about how powerful Gyarados could be, but he wasn't sure his team was ready to fit one. Especially since he was trying to show Julia how to control Oliver's aggressive tendencies, and sometimes, the atrocious pokemon would refuse to listen to the best of trainers. But he had fished it out of the water and it had happened to splash onto a lure ball and was caught near instantly.

The possibility of a Gyarados rampage had also crossed his mind, but he dismissed it quickly. Either Heracles or Gojira would be able to subdue it without problem. Although that did run the risk of exposing them to the rookies.

Amelia the Aron was entirely intentional. She would evolve into an Aggron eventually, which would nicely fill the tank role that his current team lacked.

Before the switch, it was a speed team without a doubt, with the exception of Serra who didn't like to battle anyway. Grovyle, Tailow, Poochyena, Nincada, they were all pokemon that could hit fast and decently hard, but none of them were incredibly durable.

They seemed like it against wilds or less trained pokemon, sure, but that was because they weren't really taking hits. Or if they were, they were from pokemon weaker than they were. His team was built to hit hard and fast, evade instead of overpower.

There was no problem with that. But he wanted another option, one that could power through hits and hit back harder. Aggron and Gyarados both fit that bill. It'd be a while before either one of them could do so, slow growing species they were from, but they would get there.

After returning the rod and tackle box, he returned to the suite. The rookies weren't in the common area when he passed through it, so he went directly to his bed and laid down. He'd be focusing on getting Amelia and Dart caught up to the rest of the team in the week of preparation before the preliminary gym battle.

He hoped the rookies were ready. They only had eight days left until the matches. Six of those days, in two sets of three, would be filled with intense training with a day of rest between them and a day to prepare for the battles.

He had expected the rookies to be gathered around the table eating when he entered the suite, or maybe sitting around talking about this that or the other. It was what he would have been doing when he traveled with his friends in Unova.

Instead Luke was greeted with a quiet, empty room, his charges nowhere in sight. They hadn't even been decent enough to leave a note like he did when he went fishing. Then he remembered that he'd had his communicator turned off for the better part of nine hours.

Blue eyes scanned the screen once he'd powered it up again. Three missed calls, seventeen waiting messages.

Surprisingly enough, Brendan was the one who messaged him from the group. The message was simple and to the point, explaining that they'd gone to get dinner.

The rest of the messages and all of the calls were from Bel, checking in and overcompensating for how long it had been since they'd communicated before that morning, asking if he was alright. Knowing her, she'd been this stressed about him for the entire time he'd been away and was jumping at the chance to talk with him more.

She cared about all of her friends so much. It killed Luke to know how much stress he'd caused her. And it killed him to know it wouldn't be stopping anytime soon.

He could stay up for a while, wait for the rookies to get back, right? Just wait on the couch in the communal area, messaging Bel?

Given the time it was back in Unova, his friend wouldn't be responding. But he could at least reply to what she said, try to ease her concerns as much as he could. He lowered himself onto the furniture piece, propping his head up on the armrest.

Luke didn't even realize it when his eyelids grew heavy and his chin met his chest. His pokenav, still pulled up to his conversation with Bel, slid from his hand to the floor as he faded from consciousness.

* * *

Julia had expected Luke to either be in his room asleep or snacking on something at the table when she returned to the suite with Brendan and May. So she was surprised to find him slumped on the couch in his day clothes, his right arm hanging off the side. His pokenav laid on the floor a few centimeters from his fingers.

"Well, we won't get a better chance than this to find out about him and his friends, so I don't know what you two are standing around for." Brendan said as he scooped up the older boy's 'nav in one swift motion as he started scrolling. "He's mentioned a 'Bel' before, right? They were the last person he was talking too."

"Quit it." Julia said as she tried to snatch the device out of her brother's hands, only for him to pull it back towards his chest. "I'm curious too, but you're taking this a bit far."

"No, I'm just doing what I can do to make sure we stay safe. Which includes from him. Besides, if I'm wrong, then there's nothing to be afraid of and I'll be fine with apologizing to you." Brendan defended, trying to make space between himself and his sister to resume scrolling. "Not to him though, he's been keeping all this hidden, all these secrets. Aren't you worried?"

"About him? No." May said as she grabbed the communicator from behind Brendan, "I'm more concerned with your paranoia. Are you alright Brendan?"

"Of course I am." The teen in question stated, shaking his head. "I just don't get why the two of you aren't more cautious around him."

The raven-haired teen pointed to Luke's sleeping form. "We know nothing about him, know less about his past, and he traveled around Unova when a terrorist group was working on a coup. And here we are traveling with him. Why doesn't this worry you?!"

"Because he hasn't given us a reason to worry about him." Julia said, cutting May off just as the younger girl opened her mouth. "All that he's done so far is help and support us."

"Key term being 'so far', what happens when that changes?" Brendan demanded, eyes hardening. He turned his shoulders to be square with his sister, forgetting the pokenav in May's hands.

The older sibling straightened her back and squared her slighter shoulders to face her brother. "Who's to say it will change? You're jumping to conclusions and blaming something on him that hasn't happened yet. Back off."

As Brendan opened his mouth to reply, a thud came from the couch as Luke rolled off in his sleep, knocking his head against the wooden floor. A low groan of pain soon followed.

"Son of a bitch," Luke said as he rubbed his head, not noticing the argument going on between the rookies.

From the corner of her eye, Julia saw May click his 'nav closed and slide it onto the table. At least he wouldn't know one of them had snooped into his messages.

The blue-eyed boy stood up and stretched, finally noticing the presence of the other three. "Oh. Hey y'all. I'd been planning to stay up until you guys got back so we could talk about what we're doing tomorrow, but I guess I dozed off, I found a spot that'll be perfect for training earlier today." Luke released a massive yawn as he looked between the three of them. "Is something wrong? You guys seem tense."

Julia shot Brendan a look that she hoped conveyed 'drop it' enough to the boy before she shrugged. "Nothing's wrong, just a bit of teasing gone too far."

Her brother avoided her gaze and muttered what she assumed was an agreement to her story. May just shook her head and went to her room quietly, clearly fed up with the siblings' argment.

Luke's brow creased in a small frown as he looked between the two rookies and the third's door. "Any drama I need to know about? She seems pretty fed up with something."

She was sure her and Brendan's silence spoke volumes. Luke just shrugged and picked his 'nav off the table.

"It's fine if you don't tell me, the Frost knows I don't tell you guys about all my problems or the drama back home. But I'm here to help or talk if any of you need it, hear?" Without waiting for a response the teen turned around and walked into his room.

The siblings glared at each other once his door was closed, until Brendan's softened and he shook his head lightly.

"I'm sorry Julia, I just have trouble trusting someone we know so little about. But it isn't worth making conflict here." His smile reached his chocolate eyes as he extended his hand. "Truce?"

"Truce." She said as they clasped hands.

Despite having no idea where it came from, there was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind telling her that he wasn't being sincere. That for some reason she shouldn't trust him about this.

But she pushed that voice down. Brendan was her brother, and they had to stick together.

* * *

**/AN/ So that was the fifteenth chapter. It really isn't quite what I wanted it to be, but oh well, it'll get us where we need to go. Eventually.**

**Not much to talk about happening in this chapter I don't think. Other than how terrible of an idea it is to just go spelunking with no gear or guide in a cave you've never visited before.**

**Actually, there is a point of note. Cities and towns count as their own areas. Dart, the Magikarp, was caught by fishing from the coast of Dewford using the old rod. Caves are another matter. There is one catch for the entire cave, regardless of if different areas provide different pokemon encounters, the exception being something like Mt. Pyre which has the inside and outside which would count as two different areas. I feel like I'm making no sense, but oh well.**

**Hope you're having fun reading! As always, drop a review or PM if you're interested in talking about, well, anything. I'm always down to converse!**

**Otherwise I'll just keep looking at my inbox with a sad look on my face wondering why people are reading but not saying anything. I say, knowing full well how hypocritical I'm being.**

**Regardless, I hope you enjoyed!**

**I'll be gone until I'm back again. Stay safe y'all.**


	16. Chapter 16

**So, sorry this is a couple days later than I said I was going to try to get it out. I guess New Year's resolutions really are just meant to be broken. But the reasoning is that I was getting back into competitive battling for SW/SH with a couple of my friends, and have been building teams and EV training the hours away. And from this I have one thing to say. thank you mr fish.**

**Other than that, it's just been the generic stress of New Years, and since I work at a gym we've been busy enough that I'm just drained by the time I get home and haven't been writing when I'm not playing Sword. Anyways.**

**Let's get it.**

* * *

It was just another one of those things Luke couldn't wrap his head around. It didn't make sense by any stretch of the word.

The Abra had been following Jul around ever since the three challengers came to the spot that Luke had found for them to train. Every day, the yellow fox would be waiting for them in the morning. But it didn't stop there.

Without her catching it, the psychic fox started training alongside her pokemon, teleporting away when Luke, Brendan, or one of their pokemon came near. It even acted friendly towards Chocolate and skittishly around Franz.

It made sense for it to be scared of Franz: Poochyena were natural predators of Abra and Kadabra. But why was it comfortable around Chocolate?

Luke tabled the thought for the moment to focus in on how the rookies were doing with training. Brendan was struggling to keep up with Salazar as trainer and pokemon climbed and jumped from boulders in an attempt to catch up to Rebecca. What Luke didn't tell them was that they wouldn't.

Brendan was immensely talented in recognizing patterns, but that alone wouldn't let him catch the Grovyle. He had no hope of actually doing it so long as he remained reactionary. Salazar was agile and fast, but for every stride the female took he had to take three.

On the other hand, Jul was busy climbing trees as Oliver, now a freshly evolved Marshtomp, worked on strength training beside Amelia the Aron. Luke would have preferred her to be working with her starter, but knew it wasn't the best idea. The mudfish could afford to train his strength by lifting and smashing rocks, putting his body through that strain. Jul's human physiology made it riskier to do such training without the proper equipment.

Besides, the teens didn't need to bulk up or put on muscle mass. The unorthodox exercises combined with daily calisthenics helping them trim down and improve their agility were more important to a trainer than raw physical strength.

At least, they were in Luke's opinion. The speed and agility training would help them more in the wilds or unsanctioned battles than in the gym circuit, but the encounters with Aqua assured the senior trainer that this was the correct move. Jul and Brendan needed to be more than just pokemon trainers. They needed to be athletes and outdoorsmen too.

Which Luke realized he was doing a shoddy job of teaching them. He'd been holding their hands in the wilds, doing the greatest share of the work in foraging, cooking, and selecting trails. Sure, they were still picking things up here and there, but they weren't learning the processes.

Granted, the Unovan didn't really remember how he learned, but that was because of how long ago he learned, having been taught to camp, hike, and forage years before he started training pokemon.

While the rookies were busy with their training, he'd get back to his exercise.

Sliding the goggles back over his eyes, he pushed off into the lake beside Dart the Magikarp. Swimming across the lake three times was about a mile, and Luke planned to get in three or four that day. Dart needed the exercise, and his trainer loved the swim.

The Unovan teen had done a bit of research into how to get Magikarp to evolve since they were far from competent battlers, and the general consensus was good nutrition and non-combat-based training for about a month. By his eye and what the articles had said, Dart would probably need about half that. Just in time for the battle against Brawly, just to act as an ace if the rest of his team was struggling against the fighting types.

Even if he didn't, Luke would still enjoy his two hours or so of swimming each day. The familiar ache in muscles he didn't get to use often would help him get a more restful sleep, even if it killed him how much slower he was in the water than before he started his journey. The added drag and weight of the water shirt didn't help his speed, but he would rather go slower than have a sunburned back.

* * *

It happened when Julia was at the top of her tree, Brendan taking a break on top of a boulder, and Luke was three-fourths across the lake on the way back.

Julia was about twenty meters above the ground, and she was taking the opportunity to observe Luke and the way he moved in the water. She remembered him mentioning enjoying swimming and being in the water but didn't realize how good he was at it. His body cut through the liquid like he was the fish instead of his Magikarp and had been for the last hour.

Then the water behind him started foaming, bubbles forming as something agitated the water. The brunette assumed that he realized it because he sped up, racing toward the shore. She rushed down the tree, her brother's shouts to the pokemon indicating he noticed it too.

Luke was about fifty meters away from the shore when it roared, the blue serpentine pokemon finally emerging from the water.

Julia was terrified for the boy in the water, if the Gyarados wanted to, she was sure it could eat him in a single bite. Luckily, it seemed more engaged in churning the water white as it thrashed the water in a frenzy born of its evolution.

Oliver, now a Marshtomp, Kord, Chocolate, and Zatanna the Abra were waiting for her when she reached the ground again, and together they raced to the lakeside where Brendan was waiting with his own and Luke's teams.

As soon as Luke reached the shore, he tore out of the water to grab his hip-pack. Brendan tried to grab his arm as he passed.

"Are you crazy?" the younger boy shouted, gesturing to the Gyarados, "If you return it, it'll just be this mad all over again when you let it back out!"

"I'm not trying to return him," the blue-eyed boy panted as he took off his goggles and bucked the bag around his waist. "What I'm doing is getting ready to calm him down by force."

Julia flinched when she heard Luke's tone. It was cold and hard, with a slight strain. "Wait, he didn't do anything wrong, it's not his fault he couldn't control his evolution! There's no reason to attack him!"

The Unovan turned to her, and she could see the tension in his eyes. "You're right, it isn't his fault, and I'm not going to attack him, just make sure he doesn't come over here or towards town. I didn't think he was going to evolve yet." She was able to pick up the slight panic in his voice, and the way his hand kept twitching toward his hip-pack.

Then the leviathan saw the trainers and pokemon on the shore and booked it towards them. Dart's new serpentine body slid above and below the water as he approached, red eyes blazing.

Luke stepped up, standing between the siblings and his Gyarados. "Rebecca, you're the main attacker. Franz, Shigure, make sure he doesn't get the chance to pin her down. Amelia, stand back. I'll return him and send him back out into the lake if we need to, but I'd rather not have to do it."

As her mentor's team was preparing to fight the atrocious pokemon, Julia stepped forward, moving past him and all of their collective teams. She had no idea why she did it, but there was something there that made her. A feeling, a bit of intuition, a desire to not see the water-type harmed, she had no idea.

Both boys tried to grab her, but she moved out of their grips and faced the Gyarados.

Julia spread her arms wide, and locked eyes with Dart as he charged the beach. She absent-mindedly realized Zatanna had teleported onto her shoulder.

"**STOP!**" She shouted, and everything went dark.

* * *

The first thing Julia realized was that she was in Luke's hammock again, wrapped in a blanket. Her pokemon were on the ground below, standing close together and forming a wall of sorts between her and Luke's Gyarados.

Dart, she recalled its name, lay coiled ten meters away from the hammock on the shore of the lake. His head rested on his body, one blood red eye kept open and peering at her. When he saw she was awake, he uncurled and gave a soft growl in her direction.

Even as her pokemon tensed, she knew there was no reason. He wasn't threatening her. Quite the opposite really. It seemed like he had been keeping a vigil over her, protecting and looking out for her.

But that made no sense to Julia. Why were Luke's pokemon so weird?

They had a system of protecting one another and Luke on their own, and seemed like they were willing participants in it instead of it being a system they were forced to follow. Like when Franz stayed watchful and attentive instead of running around and playing when Rebecca wasn't with them. Or the way Matthew always followed Serra around like a bodyguard when Luke had them out, or how Amelia seemed possessive over her teammates and trainer.

And now this? A calm Gyarados watching over a helpless human so soon after evolving when by all rights he should have been consumed with the infamous evolution rage his line suffered from. It really did make no sense.

Then she noticed the pair of boys talking to May just beside Dart, and realized they were probably trying to figure out what happened.

When Julia made to stand up from the hammock, her knees turned to jelly, and her stomach felt painfully empty. She caught herself before she faceplanted, falling to her knees instead. Oliver came to her side, concern etched into the face normally clouded with aggression and anger.

Steadying herself on her pokemon, Julia stood and made her way towards the other trainers. When she approached him, Dart gave a low whine in an apparent apology. She accepted it by patting his now blue scales affectionately. It wasn't his fault, after all.

"I'm telling you, there's something special about what happened." Luke said to the other two, not realizing Julia was awake. "I've never trained one before, but Gyarados don't just stop like that, snap out of an evolution rage in less than five minutes when it normally takes an hour if they aren't sedated or battled down."

"Coincidences happen," Brendan added, crossing his arms, "but we're telling you, this was weird. Dart recoiled like he realized he was about to attack his mother or something. Like he couldn't bring himself to hurt her."

"Sort of like when the blue blur randomly decided to not attack Brendan even though it thrashed the three of us." The Unovan teen said as he gestured to the boy and the Gyarados, an edge creeping into his tone. "I think this is worth telling your dad about. As the leading researcher on pokemon habits and as someone who knows her that won't flip when they hear."

Julia smiled at that. "What, you don't want to have to tell my mother that you let a Gyarados charge me?"

Luke and Brendan flinched away from her sudden appearance while May jumped forward to embrace her. Julia lightly returned the hug before pulling back.

"Well," she said, looking between her three friends, "Any chance we could fill me in on what happened? I don't really remember."

"You don't remember anything?" Luke asked with a frown, suspicion evident in his eyes. Even if he hid it in his tone, she could still see it.

"Not after I shouted at him to stop." She said, motioning to the Gyarados.

Dart uncoiled and slithered next to Julia and Luke, resting his head on the ground with eyes downcast. As though he were a child who couldn't bring himself to look in his parents' eyes while apologizing.

"That's the thing," Brendan said as Luke moved to rub Dart behind the crest on his head, "Nothing really happened after that. Your Abra fell unconscious, and the Gyarados flinched away and calmed down before he started acting like a Poochyena pup."

When Dart gave a low whine, Brendan motioned to the water type as though to say, 'see what I mean?'

"Which is why we wanted to bring it up to the professor." Luke picked up as he patted the blue pokemon, who gave a throat rumble in appreciation. "If something is up with either you or Dart, he'd be the one to know. Right?"

"That and we don't want mom to come out and drag us home. Or for her to convince dad to do it." Brendan added, poking Luke in the ribs with his elbow. "Since this guy already used up all his magic convincing her to let us out in the first place."

"Don't you think she deserves to know though?" May asked, untying and tying the knot in her bandana. She was trying to hide it, but Julia knew the younger girl was nervous. She wasn't entirely sure why, but she had a feeling it might have to do with the Gyarados.

"Maybe," Luke admitted, patting the serpent's head as he returned it, "but it isn't really my place to tell her. I'd be fine with being the one to tell the professor since it had to do with my pokemon, but given their dynamic, it's up to them if she gets told."

"Regardless of if we tell her," Julia said, "let's table this discussion. I don't know how long I was out, but I'm famished. Can we go get some food?"

* * *

"Anyways," Luke said as the quartet left the restaurant and turned towards the trainer housing, "I'm going to take a walk to help that settle. I'll see you guys tomorrow morning for a day of not training."

"Actually," May said after the three had one of their silent conversations, "would you mind if we tagged along?"

The Unovan resisted the urge to sigh and shrugged instead. He'd been hoping to introduce Dart and Amelia to Gojira and Heracles tonight, but they could wait to be introduced to the guardians for another day.

"Sure. Let's head to the beach."

"Why?" Jul asked, a light frown on her face. "Don't you normally just walk around town?"

"Normally, yeah," he said as blue eyes turned to the east, "but I was planning to let Dart out and get him adjusted to salt water since he's lived in a brackish lake his entire life." Luke paused for a moment to look at the ball rolling in his hand as they approached the edge of town. "Especially since he's going to be my water transport pokemon moving forward."

"Really?" May asked with a laugh as Luke sent his newest evolved pokemon into the shallows, "You're sponsored by a company that's shipping you around and you're worried about water transport?"

"I mean, yeah. I like having my own ways to get around." Luke said with another shrug, "I'd like to get a flying transport at some point too. I thought Shigure would fill that role, then I realized how little weight a Swelow can actually carry."

When none of them responded, he took the chance to study Dart again.

The Gyarados was adjusting to the saline water well, splashing contently. His face was contorted into a monstrously large smile in spite of the rage he'd shown a flash of earlier that day.

Luke reasoned that anyone passing by would think the group of four trainers was either incredibly cocky or incredibly stupid to be walking casually beside the sea serpent. He couldn't tell for sure, but he reasoned that Dart was about twenty-five feet long or so. Small for his species, but he would grow in time.

With that in mind, he wondered about why the addition had evolved so quickly. Luke was by no means an expert on Magikarp, but he'd had him for less than a week when the articles he'd found indicated it taking at least a month. Magikarp needed time, nutrition, and exercise to become a Gyarados. For about a week he'd provided the last two, but there wasn't enough time that passed.

Granted, Luke had been hopeful to have him evolve within the two weeks between when he caught him and the gym battle. But he hadn't expected him to be ready this soon. And now the gauntlet he'd been mentally preparing for, teaching him obedience and anger management. Not that he was complaining, a Gyarados that didn't have anger issues was an incredible boon.

It'd take some extra time and training to teach him to safely ferry the four passengers he'd be responsible for carrying, but he would get there. For the moment, as May had said, he had access to transportation through Briney's sponsorship.

"So, do you think we're ready for our preliminary matches? The last set of prelims was a joke, at least for me and Julia, I'm assuming you too." The brown-eyed boy asked, opening Salazar's pokeball to let the gecko run in the sand. Julia also let her starter out of his ball, and May sent her Skitty out into her arms.

"I mean, I think so," Luke said. "Although I have no idea how big of a difference there is between tier one and two here. And I don't remember exactly how strong my team was when I did the tier two in Unova anyways." A small grin crossed his face as he looked to Dart.

"But there's only one real way to find out, yeah?"

* * *

Luke walked back into the waiting area less than ten minutes after leaving. Those that didn't know him probably thought he'd been humbled by the preliminary match until they saw the cocky grin on his face was still there as he walked up to Julia and Brendan.

"So, I take it you won?" Julia asked, steel eyes running over his face.

She was surprised, really, that his face was telling this much. There had been a tired smile after his win over Roxanne, and she hadn't seen him until he returned to the suite from the preliminary back in Rustburo.

"Of course he did," Brendan said, stroking Salazar's head, "if it was a battle he would have lost he wouldn't be back yet, none of his pokemon go down quickly. Especially if he used Dart."

Salazar chirped, pushing his head into his trainer's hand, and Julia smiled. Ever since his pokemon evolved yesterday on their day off from training, the Grovyle had been attention from the three rookies, Brendan more than the other two. The constant pats and praise had boosted the gecko's ego enough he probably thought he was a Sceptile already.

"I'm not saying you're wrong," Luke said with a shrug, "but I wouldn't use Dart in the prelims, he's my ace for the leader and I don't plan on him knowing I've got a Gyarados in the pocket. Regardless, I didn't need him. Shigure was more than enough to win the match and I would have used Rebecca as my second if things looked sticky."

The three continued to chat about the match with Luke not giving much away about what happened other than what his thoughts were as it went.

Then, not ten minutes after Luke came back, a gym clerk entered the room.

"Julia Carols, your preliminary match is ready. Julia Carols, your preliminary match is ready."

She took a deep breath before recalling her team and heading towards the door where the clerk stood. To her surprise, Luke tailed behind her.

"I've already finished my prelim, do you mind if I spectate my friend's match?" the Unovan asked the clerk, "I'm mentoring her and a couple other trainers, I thought it'd be helpful if I watched so I could break it down with them later."

The clerk narrowed her eyes at the boy, looking him up and down. "I suppose. But no recording, video or otherwise, is allowed in the room. Same as if you were in the match yourself."

"Of course."

"Then both of you, please follow me."

Julia could feel her heart rate climbing. Not just the prelim, but Luke would be watching too? It hadn't bothered her during her gym battle with Roxanne, but it was making her nervous here. But nerves didn't matter. She'd just push them down and keep going. She had to.

The trainer at the other side of the room the clerk led them to was vastly different from the man who had been her opponent in Rustburo. Dressed in a white martial arts uniform secured around the waist with a black belt, he looked like he planned on taking part in the fighting himself. Judging by his broad shoulders and large muscles, he probably wouldn't do too bad in a melee.

A hand being placed on her shoulder surprised her, and she turned to see Luke give what she was sure was supposed to be a comforting smile. His light squeeze of her shoulder did far more to reassure her.

"You've got this." He said as he made his way to the side of the room, "he's nothing that you can't handle."

"This will be a two-on-one single battle with the challenger being allowed to substitute freely between two pokemon," the clerk said from the center of the gym, taking the referee role, "while Takao will be allowed only one pokemon. Ready?"

Julia nodded, using the pause to breathe deeply and pull Oliver and Kord's balls into her hand. She'd start with Oliver, and if he got too worn down she'd switch to the grass type and win against an already tired opponent through attrition and status moves. Luke was confident in her, and she was confident in her pokemon. They could do this.

"Begin!"

The Marshtomp emerged in a flash of light from his pokeball, letting out what she was sure could be a terrifying croak to the right ears. The Machop that appeared across from him did not have that set of ears.

For a moment, nothing happened, the two pokemon content to size each other up for the moment.

"Oliver, go!"

"Marcus, karate chop!"

The mudfish shot a ball of mud from his mouth as he approached the fighting type, opting to take the hit from the chop instead of dodging. Blows were traded between the two until a chop landed on Oliver's head, giving a popping sound that nearly made Julia sick.

Oliver's response was grabbing the small, muscle-bound humanoid by a leg and arm and slamming it into the ground, creating a new dent in the floor. While the basic pokemon was stunned, the mudfish reared his head back and spewed high pressure water directly onto his enemy.

"Low kick!"

A grey limb shot out from under the stream of water to knock Oliver's legs from under him, colliding with his ankles. But the Marshtomp remained upright.

Instead he reached down and grabbed the leg, hoisting the Machop over his head again before slamming him into the ground. Then he lifted the superpower pokemon over the ground and blasted him with water until the gym trainer returned his pokemon, a scowl on his face.

As Julia walked toward the center of the arena to shake hands, the man on the other side turned around and walked out of the room. She shrugged and turned back to see Luke's scowl.

"Something wrong?" she asked as the pair went back to the warm-up room, "Your face looks better when you aren't doing a Crobatman impression."

"It should be nothing," he said, the both of them scanning the crowded room for Brendan, "hopefully. Gym trainers are supposed to be held to a certain level of sportsmanship, at least they are back home. I just don't like how it feels with him walking out without shaking hands."

"Anyways," the Unovan said with a shake of his head, "it doesn't look like Brendan is here, he probably got called up right after you. Too bad, I wanted to watch his battle."

"Don't you think it would help us more if we got to see the way you battle in these matches?" Julia asked as she let out Selina the Skitty. "Just to get to see how you do it instead of you critiquing us?"

"I battle against people the same way I train against you guys and the wilds," he said, letting out Franz to play with Selina, "so there isn't much to learn from what you'd see. Just more of my pokemon battling and me reacting situationally. I like to think I win battles ahead of time with better training and conditioning. So I don't really know what you guys would learn from watching me."

As he finished speaking, her brother walked back into the room with a confident smirk fixed on his face.

"Forager wrecked that guy," Brendan said as he held up his Dustox's pokeball, "what about you?"

Julia shrugged. "Oliver."

"Figures."

* * *

Training with Dart was going far better than Luke had any right to hope it would. The serpent was obedient and controlled, if a bit hesitant on some attacks so he wouldn't hurt the opposing pokemon too badly. In short, far more thoughtful than he had been led to believe Gyarados ever were. Maybe he didn't need to be spending one of his scheduled days off training the leviathan?

As he stood on the lake shore, the question of finding the Steven Stone came up in his mind again. Truth be told, he'd forgotten about the letter entirely until it happened to cross his mind that day. According to the rookies and the weather channel, they would have a narrow window to get out of Dewford and to Slateport before the rainy season made the passage impossible for most ships.

Which in turn meant he was running out of time to find Steven and deliver the letter. A trainer like him being relegated to a simple letter courier for a company that he wasn't even affiliated with. His irritation over the situation overpowered the traces of nostalgia he felt. Especially considering he didn't have a friend in this company that he was helping like before.

He opened his 'nav and searched 'Steven Stone' as Dart splashed happily in the lake. The first thing he tapped on were the images once the search results were on screen. A tall, slim man who looked too young for the combed silver hair, dressed in a suit in almost all the pictures. In the few the man wasn't wearing formal attire in, he was dressed plainly in generic hiking attire. Long pants tucked into high boots, a windbreaker over a quarter-zip pullover.

So all he got from the images was to look for a well-dressed adult male with silver hair. Time to move to the other tabs.

Luke was met with a lot of articles about rocks in different regions, describing value, importance and rarity. Most of them were written by Steven himself, published under the Devon Cooperation. So he was a rock nut. Cool. That didn't really help Luke find him though. Unless he was at either the quarry or in the mines somewhere.

Actually, that was probably it, given Mr. Stone sent him and Julia to Dewford specifically. The Unovan teen just wished the CEO had mentioned it when they were still in his office.

As he was about to close the device, Luke saw a link that said something about 'Champion Stone.'

And how could he not click on it?

* * *

**So, that was the 16th installment. A bit shorter than what the last few have been, but these are about what to expect going forward. Somewhere between 4k and 6k words as the new average instead of the 3k average I thought would be the norm when I started this story.**

**As for why Luke doesn't know about who Steven is, he's from Unova, and there's limited contact between regions. And he never really cared for being a spectator to foreign battles or sports, or paying attention to who's the leader of a country. Because you know, Unova is based on the US. And people in the US (for the most part) only care about other countries as they impact the US. And Steven wasn't impacting Unova.**

**For why it took so long for Luke to 'Google' Steven, he's just been preoccupied with training and getting the rookies ready. Speaking of, Gyarados. I grinded the hell out of Granite Cave and the gym trainers to get Dart to a Gyarados before Brawly to give me a pokemon that actually resisted fighting type moves. Franz was weak to them, so was Amelia, Serra too, Ewan was dead, and Shigure was frail and I didn't trust the game to not crit him. Which would have left me with Rebecca trying to solo it, which I wasn't a fan of, so I got on the grind and got a Gyarados.**

**As always, special shout-out to Maycontestdrew for her reviews!**

**If you enjoyed it, drop a review, let me know what you liked or what was wrong. Hit me up with a PM if that's more your style. Don't forget to follow/favorite if you want to get a notification when I update!**

**Anyway, I'll be gone until I'm back again. Stay safe y'all.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. Most notably by me. I'm not dead. Yay.**

**Regardless, I should have known better than to make consistent uploading a new year's resolution. It fell apart even faster than my resolution of not singing flat as a member of the tenor section. I ran into more than a couple problems trying to get this finished, not limited to losing my computer for a while, but I'm back, and slow as ever. Regardless, here I am, and here we go.**

* * *

Luke was pretty sure he'd found Steven. Now the only problem was making sure of it and delivering the letter to the former champion. Which really wouldn't have been too hard if he weren't doing so through an internet message board centered around rocks and stones.

But even if this person _was_ Steven, Luke still needed to draw him out in person to deliver it. How to do that? He couldn't just ask if the man was in Dewford, and he didn't want to tip his hand by bringing up either the league or Devon Corp.

Maybe lead him on thinking he had an incredibly rare rock type pokemon, feel out his interest in meeting? It had a better chance of working than just asking if he was the former champion and if he'd like to meet in person. At least it did in Luke's head.

The pokenav vibrated with a message from Bel that he dismissed. He could talk to her later, he needed to focus on Steven for the time being.

With a few more keystrokes, a new message was sent to 'Daigo_Stones' and Luke closed the communicator. If he worked this angle right, he'd be able to both advance his own plans and finish being an errand boy for Stone. Although finding out about the former champion had been more exciting than he'd bargained for.

First, the epiphany when he'd clicked on 'Champion Stone' to see that the person he'd been searching for was formerly a dominant champion and battler. Rising to power with a defensively focused team with high powered offensive bursts, he focused on steel and rock types.

Then the realization that his reign had apparently been incredibly corrupt going from what comments and articles said about him and his connection to the Devon Company. Luke was less than thrilled to effectively be working for a rotten company at the moment, but there was more to it, he was sure. Whether what was underneath the surface was more corruption or less was anyone's guess.

The sources claimed that Stone had dumped region and corporate money into a research project separate from his father's company, under his own direct supervision. The same sources claimed he was using said project to embezzle millions of…dollars? Luke suddenly realized that he wasn't sure what Hoenn citizens called their currency, and the articles only specified the numbers, not the units of measuring them. He'd been using his card almost exclusively and hadn't bothered to listen when others had been talking about it. He would ask one of the rookies later.

There was a problem with the idea of him embezzling the money though. It wasn't until after he'd been forced from his championship by Wallace, but evidence had apparently come up that the research team had existed. When asked, Steven refused to answer what their goal had been. Which made him look all the more suspicious.

In short, the Unovan had no idea how to feel about the other man. How could he seem so guilty and innocent at the same time? The evidence pointed towards guilt more than innocence though, and if Luke were to meet with the man, he would be fully prepared. Flames forbid he have to battle the other man with only Gojira and Heracles as his higher powered 'mons.

As he pondered, his 'nav lit up with a new message from Daigo, which he readily opened.

"So, he wants to meet at the entrance to the Granite Cave mine?" Luke muttered to himself, unable to stop the apprehension from rising in his gut. After all, what person with good intentions wanted to meet with a teenager in a dark, secluded area outside of the city?

"Looks like I'll be doing some spelunking after all."

* * *

Julia followed Luke the morning he went off to train with Dart. When she had asked him about it, he had said something about "just making sure" and "necessary precaution" without actually saying what he'd be doing.

It was oddly vague, and, she had to admit, suspicious. The Gyarados had been perfectly behaved ever since his evolution outburst, acting more like a Poochyena pup than the wrathful leviathan his species was known for being. The past few days had been nothing _but_ Luke verifying the water type's placidity.

She had to get up extra early to tail him through the town outskirts and toward the quarry lake they had made into their training ground. To her surprise, he kept going.

So she followed him some more until he was at the entrance to the old mine, known by most as Granite Cave ever since the operations had stopped. And then he let his full team out as he propped his back against the stone wall and sat down, Rebecca taking her place beside him.

Amelia curled up beside her trainer, gnawing on a scrap of rock as she watched Franz and Dart run and slither in circles, playing a game only they knew the rules to. Shigure took to the air, chirping every so often as he monitored them all.

She stood to the side watching for almost half an hour as a spectator while trying to decide how to proceed. She could send her team out, or just approach him. Either way she would need to figure out what she would tell him to justify her being there, be it admitting that she followed him or trying to make him believe she was there coincidentally.

Julia walked towards him before she lost the nerve to do it. All of him team members gave her glances as she walked by, but none of them moved to stop her as she sat beside their trainer.

"So, what brought you all the way out here this morning?"

Luke bolted upright at her question, hand digging in his hip pack until he realized it was her. He gave a huge sigh as his hand went to his chest to calm himself down.

"By Storm and Fire Jul," he said once his breathing slowed to a more normal pace, "you scared the daylights out of me. Any reason you needed to sneak up on me like that?"

Julia recognized that he was talking, but her focus was on the other teen's eyes. Specifically, his right eye. It wasn't the cold blue she was accustomed to seeing, but a soft silver instead, almost like a sliver of the moon was in the boy's eye. She couldn't stop herself from staring at it.

When the boy realized, he slapped a hand over his right orb, obscuring it from her sight. For another couple minutes the two of them said nothing, letting the tension in the air sit.

"I thought I imagined it." Julia said, her voice seeming small even to herself. "I saw it when you woke up in Oldale, but I convinced myself it was a trick of the light. How have you been hiding it this entire time?"

"Color contacts." Luke said simply, keeping the hand over his eye. Even his pokemon had stopped moving to look at the two humans.

"Anything else?" she pushed, switching from staring at the hand over his eye to the exposed blue eye. Julia felt the advantage she had in the conversation and wanted to press it. The information was close enough she could feel it, taste it almost.

It wasn't even that she was suspicious of Luke like Brendan, or that she was so desperate to know more about him as the guy she liked like May wanted her too. She just wanted to understand the puzzle that the Unovan trainer was. She just wanted to know.

After another moment of silence, Luke responded. "What else is there to know? They're custom made and I don't wear them when I sleep." His hand still refused to move from the right side of his face. "I'll be honest, I really don't want to talk about this. Like, at all."

"Why?" Julia asked. She couldn't see it, but she was sure that her face was expressing the confusion she was feeling. "It's just your eye color."

"You know," Luke said as he turned away from her and fished something out of his hip pack, "I misspoke when I said I didn't want to talk about it. What I meant to say was that I'm not going to be talking about it." His voice was grating, like a knife being run across a stone. When he turned back to her, his eyes were both blue again, his hand slipping the contacts' case back into his pouch.

"Besides, that doesn't answer why you're here." He said, blue eyes boring into her skull for the answer.

"I was-"

A metallic _clang_ from inside the mouth of the cave cut Julia off, followed by the sound of a pokemon being returned to their ball. Then, a man walked out from the cave entrance, black hiking clothes smeared with mud and a mining helmet on his head. His face was similarly smudged, hands only clean because he'd taken off the gloves that were now beside his feet.

Luke's head whipped between the two of them like a kid playing with someone else's toy. Then he shrugged and motioned to Julia.

"Daigo, I assume? This is Julia, one of my friends. Julia, this is Daigo, someone I met on a message board about rocks."

"Lucas!" Daigo said, moving to shake the trainer's hand, "I know we haven't spoken for long, but I am glad to meet you. And you brought a friend too! Is she similarly interested in stones?"

"You're interested in stones?" Julia blurted, unable to contain her surprise, "And that's why you left so early? To talk to someone about rocks?"

"She doesn't, just tagging along," the Unovan said, "as you can probably tell. And not all stones. There's just one or two in particular that I'm interested in for the moment."

His eyes flicked to Daigo when he said the word 'stones' as though it held a special impact. Truthfully, she had been hoping to learn more about Luke, Julia just wasn't ready for what she was learning about him to come out of left field like this.

"You seem to be a decently powerful trainer for only having one gym badge." Daigo's words brought her attention back to the stranger, who was now busy inspecting Luke's pokemon. His attention almost seemed like it was locked on Amelia, who had cracked the rock from earlier open to chew on the iron ore hidden within. "She's doing well, decent enough diet from the luster on her plates and teeth. You've got yourself a fine little Aron."

"Thanks," Luke said as he returned them all but Amelia and Rebecca, "So, the cave?"

Daigo's eyes lit up as he motioned for them to follow him. "Of course, this way. I've only laid out one set of gear, but I can unpack another for your girlfriend."

"Not his girlfriend," Julia interjected before Luke followed the man, "and what are we doing? Never did catch that bit."

"Well, your 'not-boyfriend' wanted me to show him through one of the paths in the mine. Something about maybe finding a stone or mineral that's rare in Unova." Daigo turned back to address her, patting Luke on the shoulder. "Which is something I'm interested in too, although I have no idea what mineral it could be."

"I'll know when I see it." Luke said with a small shrug. "You don't have to come if you don't want to Julia. This is a personal thing, I'd get if you want to hang back or go back to the suite."

"I'll come," she said, walking up beside the two men, trying to get a read on Diago. He was taller than Luke and her by a good bit, standing somewhere around 180 cm. The angles on his face were hard and defined, high cheekbones not hid at all by a couple days' worth of blond stubble. His clothes looked worn, but that was mostly from the mud that coated them. None of his hair could be seen from under the gray hard hat he was wearing. Going off so little information she'd have guessed he was anywhere from his late 20's to mid-30's.

Just inside the mouth of the cave, Daigo pointed out a set of gear that Luke quickly put on over his normal attire, yellow cover-alls with a white hard hat, and a detachable light strapped onto his shoulder. Julia was fitted similarly once Daigo unpacked a second set.

* * *

"It's too bad you didn't find what you were searching for," Daigo said as the trio emerged from the mouth of the cave into the afternoon sunlight. "I was rather looking forward to what you could have been talking about."

"I'm used to disappointment." Luke said with a shrug as he stripped off the suit and helmet. "But really, thanks for this opportunity, not sure how long I'd be here waiting for someone else to guide me through that, especially someone as capable of answering all our questions."

Despite his efforts, Luke couldn't help but think of the events as half a failure instead of half a success. He'd been able to slip the letter, safely sealed in a plastic bag, into Daigo's dry bag without the other man noticing. At least he hoped the other man hadn't noticed.

Julia, for her part, did not seem to have enjoyed their little adventure. Being in the cave seemed to make her uncomfortable, which was understandable. Tight, dark, damp places like that tended to make people anxious. He suspected the only reason he hadn't been terrified on his first time was from the adrenaline being pushed through his system.

The two trainers bid farewell to Daigo as they began the trek back towards town, remaining silent until they arrived at their training spot.

"Go ahead and take a load off," Luke said as he released his team, "you're due for some relaxation after being in that cave for five hours."

The look Julia gave him said that she didn't believe him. So he shrugged.

"Being in caves is-well, it isn't _fun_ for me, but it gives me a certain thrill, a different sense of enjoyment. You very clearly don't have the same experience, it seemed to make you anxious, and I'm sorry for effectively dragging you into it. So just relax now. No training or workouts for the rest of the day." After speaking, he shrugged at Julia's frown. "My pokemon are going to be out and playing. I'm taking a nap."

With that, the blue-eyed boy turned away from his charge and sat down, leaning against a boulder. The sound of pokeballs opening let him know that Julia was taking him up his invitation, and the rhythmic breathing let him know she sat down a couple feet away from him.

He couldn't hear her, but he knew Rebecca was either sitting or standing just behind and to the side of him. Dart was alternating between gliding beneath the surface and on top of it from the sounds of the splashes he could hear. Shigure's chirping let him know that the Tailow was flying above the rest of the party, while Franz chased him from below. Amelia was still adjusting to being in such a large group and was likely sitting beside Rebecca since he couldn't hear her trying to chase after Franz.

Julia's team was harder to place. He assumed that Oliver was steadfastly waiting beside her, but he could also be contributing to the splashing. Kord didn't really make much of a sound when he waddled around and was likely just soaking in the sun. Chocolate was probably with Franz chasing Shigure? Or maybe curled up to take a nap. And her Abra didn't make noise anyway, levitating above the ground and teleporting to get around. Really it was anyone's guess where the psychic fox was resting.

"How are you so comfortable with it?" Julia asked, breaking the silence between the humans. Luke had to stifle a yawn as he sat up to look at her as she stared straight ahead to where Dart was splashing in the water.

"I trust my pokemon to keep me safe, even when I'm napping. It's one of the things about being a trainer that took me the longest to really accept, the mutual trust to keep each other safe."

"I meant how are you so comfortable with lying to us and going out on your own. You told us that you'd be training with Dart today, not going cave diving." She said it in an even tone, but Luke could feel the accusation behind her words.

"Oh. That. To put it simply, this is the only time I've really lied to you about what I'm doing when I go off. And I did it because if I had told you that I was going to the middle of nowhere to meet with a stranger significantly older than me by myself, you'd have been worried." He turned so that he was facing forward again, watching Dart slither in the water. "And you guys really shouldn't worry about me or my safety. Your concerns should be for yourselves and experiencing your journeys, throwing me in there is just adding stress."

"What if we want to be concerned about you? You're our friend, and what happens to you matters."

"Word of advice," Luke said with a sigh, closing his eyes. He succeeded in blocking out the sun, but not the memories. "Don't get too attached to me. I tend to disappoint the people that are."

"So we're just supposed to believe whatever you tell us, even when I can prove that you've lied to us before? Like now?" Her voice was incredulous, edging towards anger. "Your own point can be used against you: what would have happened if Daigo wanted to hurt you? Do you think you would have stood a chance? And where would that leave the rest of us?"

"I'll answer all of your questions in a word: yes." Luke had to force his tone to stay even. "You should believe what I say, like when I say that it was safer for me to go alone than to bring you guys along. I might not have been able to beat him or out-muscle him, but I'm willing to bet I could have gotten away from him and back to you guys."

"You honestly don't know how arrogant you sound right now. You have one gym badge. He could have sent out an Aggron or something! For all the experience you have, you're still just another eighteen-year-old trainer!"

"First of all, I'm not just another trainer. Second, I've earned eleven gym badges to date. Third, an Aggron would be far from the hardest thing for me to escape from." Luke said as he stood up, recalling his team except for Rebecca. "I need you to understand that the safety and success of other people is more important than my own, and that when I don't tell you something or deceive you in some small way, it's for your safety."

"That's Tauros-shit and you know it." Julia said as she stood up, blocking Luke from the path toward town. "As though we would be better off without you there, or you'd be better off on your own."

Luke gave a mirthless snort. "Both of those are probably true. For instance, we'll use the Aggron example. I know exactly how I would get away from it. I don't know how I'd get the rest of you out. Now if you'll excuse me, since I can't rest here, I need to go somewhere else to do it."

"Not until you-"

"It's also funny how you never mentioned anything about who Devon Stone is before you agreed to be his courier, or how you didn't say anything about Steven Stone. It'd be kind of important for me to know what we were dealing with, yeah? Unless you just assumed a foreigner would know the politics. Or did you think it was better I didn't know?" Luke said as he walked around Julia, who kept looking at the spot he had been, mouth agape. "Think about that for a while before you criticize me for holding back information again."

* * *

Julia had apologized to him that evening for not telling him about Steven. In turn, he apologized for loosing his cool. She had also tried to get him to promise to not keep secrets like that from her and the others in the future, but he'd dodged around doing so. They hadn't talked to one another in the following couple days beyond simple good mornings.

Now he was in the Dewford Gym's waiting area, which was a locker room with an actual gym attached to it, getting ready for his battle against Broly. His team wasn't particulary strong against fighting types, but not weak to it either. Shigure would be the lead, with either Dart or Rebecca as his backup depending on the situation.

When the aide came in to escort him to the battlefield, Luke was already standing, waiting by the door. Something had felt off ever since his meet-up with Daigo. No, 'off' wasn't quite the right word. There was something coming, something hanging over his head. An odd sense of dread almost, but that shouldn't be it, he was more than prepared for a tier-two battle.

Sure, he was still upset about the argument with Julia. Not at her so much as that the argument had happened in the first place, which was his fault really. He shouldn't have said anything to the rookies about what he'd been planning on doing or kept it vague enough that what he said would have been true. Regardless, the argument and irritation was his fault, no point in being upset at Julia.

But that wasn't what this was. He'd gotten in plenty of arguments with his friends before without feeling like this after. It wasn't the argument, it wasn't nerves, it wasn't fear, so what was it?

Luke tabled the mental discussion as he made his way to the center of the pitch where Broly was waiting. He was taller than the Unovan by a head, easily standing over six feet tall. A tight-fitting orange tank top and grey sweatpants made it look like he was getting ready to work out instead of take part in a pokemon battle. Spiky black hair came up from his head, with skin the color of warm bronze covering his muscled arms and neck.

Luke, by comparison, was in his Briney Co./BW Agency jersey, with jeans and boots.

The two met in the middle with a handshake. "Lucas Williams, here for a tier-two gym battle to earn the Knuckle Badge."

"Brawly, gym leader of Dewford Island, here to stop you from getting the Knuckle Badge." Brawly, not Broly, said as he took Luke's hand. "Don't take it personally kid, but I was told that I've been giving out too many low tier badges recently. Gotta make an example out of you, feel me?"

The Unovan shrugged. "Not like I expected you to just roll over and give me the badge. But you'll need to make an example out of somebody else, I don't plan on losing today."

"Sure kid, whatever you say." Brawly said as he turned back to go to his side of the plot, "Just don't cry when you lose. It gets on my nerves when the cocky ones cry."

Luke didn't respond to the bait, instead rolling Shigure's ball in his hand. Maybe he should start off with Dart instead, go full tilt from the get-go? No, the Tailow needed the experience, and timid as Dart might be, Gyarados had a reputation for losing control for a reason.

The referee said something about it being a two-on-two battle, and the rules that everyone there already knew. Then the flags dropped, and the battle began.

Luke tossed Shigure's ball high into the air as he walked toward the middle of the pitch. Brawly stood next to his Machop, approaching slowly, watching the Unovan and his Tailow.

Likewise, Luke was studying the gym leader. The other man was clearly physically stronger than him, and, given the way me moved across the pitch almost gliding on the balls of his feet, probably an actual martial artist. Which didn't bode well for Luke if the two of them went at it along with their pokemon.

Instead, he stopped several yards short of the center before making a finger gun with his left hand.

"Bang."

And Shigure dive-bombed the grey humanoid, buffeting it with his wings and jabbing with his beak, easily drawing blood from the muscly pokemon before retreating back into the air. A simple hit-and-run tactic, but effective all the same. After the first one, Luke didn't need to give the auditory signal, Shigure already knew what to do and when to do it.

Not that he would have had the chance to give the cue. He was too busy getting beat up. Brawly was _fast_, way faster than Luke had been expecting, and his blocks were only going to go so far if Shigure didn't finish it up.

Luke never knew how, but he was always able to remember what happened in the pokemon battles more than his own fight. By the time Shigure had finished dealing with the Machop, Luke was hurting something fierce. He didn't remember taking many shots to the head, but that was definitely blood coming down into his eye, and it was anyone's guess if the blood he tasted was from inside his mouth or drip from the nosebleed he'd been given.

Regardless, he was thankful for the momentary respite Brawly recalling his pokemon gave the Unovan. As Shigure flew towards him, he realized it would be even shorter than he'd expected.

"Hito, vital throw."

Faster than Luke thought a Makuhita could move, the yellow pseudo-sumo pokemon shot forward and grabbed Shigure out of the air by his wings. In a single, sickening motion, the gym leader's pokemon make the swallow look backwards with a horrific crunching sound.

"You should be glad he knows moderation, it would have been just as easy for him to tear its head off completely. Now then, are you going to give up or send another pokemon out?"

Shigure's body dropped to the floor as the crowd cheered for the battle escalating.

"Is that what this is about? You getting your popularity back by killing my pokemon?" Luke's words were cold, laced with barely restrained fury. He rolled a pokeball in his right palm.

"You were talking all that good shit a minute ago. What happened to your bravado, where's your confidence now?" Brawly's words barely registered as the gym leader walked towards Luke. "You know what they say: talk smack, get clapped."

Luke dropped the lure ball, releasing his leviathan. As soon as he emerged, Dart's eyes were blazing, feeding from his trainers fury. His roar when he saw the corpse of his party-mate could be felt through the ground, the vibrations traveling up the trainers' legs. The Unovan didn't even have to point to the fighting-type for the atrocious pokemon to launch itself towards it.

"The saying, Broly," Luke said as his Gyarados tore into the much smaller pokemon, spilling its blood all over the arena floor, "is talk shit, get hit. Now where's my badge."

* * *

After Luke's battle, Julia was too busy comforting a sobbing May to congratulate the other trainer. It had started off simple enough if she disregarded Brawly beating the Unovan teen to a pulp, but then being forced to watch the Makuhita wring Shigure's neck? It was nearly enough to make her sick, and more than enough to disgust her.

Put simply, May was a mess. The contents of her stomach had vacated onto the bleachers when Shigure was killed. The dry-heaving and panic attack started when Luke had sic'd Dart on the fighting type. It didn't help that the announcer commented on approximately how much blood was supposed to be in a Makuhita's system.

On the other hand, Brendan was just outside the bathroom door, pacing to and fro in an attempt to work the anger and helplessness out of his system. He would be the next one from their group to fight Brawly, first thing tomorrow morning. Granted, he would be with her comforting May, but opted to 'guard' the door to make sure they weren't bothered instead.

Meanwhile, Julia was busy soothing her friend and worrying about how Luke was holding up. One of his pokemon had just been killed in front of him, and he had the injuries from the fistfight to deal with. He couldn't be in a good space. Although she'd have to bet that he'd still be doing better than May was at the moment.

Thirty minutes after she'd run from the stands, May stopped dry-heaving. Twenty after that, she stopped sobbing, and claimed she was well enough for the trio to walk back to the suite, although her hands never left Brendan or Julia's arm at the same time, clinging to her friends for support. Even when they were back at the suite and she was sat down on her bed, the shaking didn't stop, even as she folded into Brendan's embrace, clinging to his shirt like a lifeline.

Julia decided to give them space, not wanting to crowd May. Instead, she knocked on Luke's door, only for it to swing open when her knuckles struck the wood. His gear was in a pile at the foot of his bed instead of sorted in his pack the way it usually would be. His vest wasn't there, which meant that he _had_ dropped by and picked it up after the battle. Then she saw Shigure's pokeball resting on the desk, and her heart broke for both the boy and his dead pokemon.

Her search didn't stop there though. She went to the hospital next to see if he had checked in to get his injuries looked at. The receptionist responded in the negative. Which meant that he probably went to the training spot to get away from both them and the city in general. Maybe there was even a strong enough connection for him to call Dubs there? Regardless, it'd be her next stop.

She stopped when she walked by the PokeCenter. Julia didn't know why, but she felt like she should check inside. Rationally, it'd make sense for him to be at the center to heal his team. But she doubted that he was being rational. Regardless, she entered the building and asked the nurse.

"The boy with the Gyarados? Yes, his pokemon are being treated at the moment. He paid for two hours of international video call time and is in booth four at the moment, he seemed quite distraught." The nurse had worry in her eyes even though she managed to keep her voice steady.

Julia thanked her for the answer and made her way to the video booth. Although they were soundproofed, Hoenn law required them to have a transparent wall and door, which allowed her to see the boy she'd been chasing. Well, the back of him anyways.

Luke was sitting on the bench with his back toward the glass, slumped forward with his shoulders bowed in. His head hung low, chin resting on his chest, elbows on his knees. His hair had grown enough that it hung in front of his face, obscuring his face from her view. She couldn't see his eyes to tell if he'd been crying, or his face to see if he'd gotten the injuries looked at.

In a word, he looked defeated.

Then Julia noticed the people on the video screen. One of them was a young woman with long brown hair held back in a ponytail, with piercing dark-blue eyes. Her face seemed frozen between concern and irritation, some odd in-between of emotions. The bags under her eyes indicated she either wasn't sleeping enough or that whatever sleep she was getting didn't do anything for her. Or she was just tired from a couple days, Julia had no real way to tell.

The other person on the split screen was her polar opposite, with short blonde hair mostly covered by a hat and bright green eyes that seemed to smile even though her face was being pulled down in concern.

Julia stayed to watch the conversation for a few minutes. The women took turns speaking, sometimes not moving their mouths to leave room for Luke to contribute, although Julia had no idea if he was or not.

After a while, she went back to the suite. Luke apparently had his own way of dealing with the death of his pokemon. For now, her job was to help her other friend.

* * *

**RIP Shigure the Tailow, Lv 3-19. He was a good bird.**

**Well, I don't really have much to say here this time. Thanks to maycontestdrew for the fantastic reviews, everyone make sure to review or PM me if you have any questions.**

**Anyways, I'll be gone until I'm back again. Stay safe y'all.**


	18. Chapter 18

**I am back with an actual attempt at punctuality this time. I mean it. Maybe. Let it be known that I haven't been called a truther often. Regardless, I'm back with the Chapter 18. Let's kick it.**

* * *

Luke knew that he should be in the stands of the gym to watch Brendan and Julia battle Brawly, to offer them support whether they won or lost. Especially if he was going to try and pull a fast one on them too.

After all, it's what they had done for him, and what he'd done for his friends in Unova.

But the blue-eyed boy couldn't bring himself to go there. He couldn't trust himself not to send Heracles or Gojira to attack the gym leader. As good as it would feel, it wasn't the right move and would cause more trouble than it was worth.

Death was a simple fact of life. Pokemon died, people died, plants died, everything did eventually. Anyone who'd been an outdoorsman as long as Luke knew that death was necessary to keep balance in any kind of ecosystem. Innumerable deaths had been caused by competition and the simple need for nutrition.

Even in civilization, accidents happened. A pokemon uses a stronger attack than they meant to, or a missed attack hits a trainer. Buildings fell, fires started, people tripped. Things happen.

But what Brawly had done was different. His Makuhita emerged with the express order to kill even if the gym leader hadn't given that specific order in the battle. In a regulated league match.

The notion that he did it to save face only made the teen's anger rise even more, pressure building inside a soda bottle getting ready to pop. Publicity wasn't a good reason to kill someone's pokemon. Granted, revenge with the defense of 'I was mad' weren't exactly good reasons either, but the Makuhita had it coming. Brawly deserved much worse than just the newly vacated pokeball at his belt for training his pokemon to go for the kill as a primary option, but Luke knew he couldn't be the one to give it to him.

So instead of being there and risk losing his temper, Luke went to the beach with only Franz out as company. Any of his other pokemon would have garnered him more second glances and attention that he didn't want right now between Rebecca being an endangered species, Amelia making a ruckus every time she walked anywhere, and Dart having become famous after tearing a gym leader's pokemon to bloody shreds on local television.

The Poochyena's fur was getting darker thanks to the black oily substance his species and their evolved form secreted on their backs. Which in turn made the hair stiff and alerted them to changes in the air around them. If he continued getting the proper exercise and nutrition, Franz would be evolving in no time. A comforting thought given the boost in power and bulk he'd receive making him that much more durable and harder to kill.

Had Luke slept, he knew Shigure would have joined Ewan in the chorus of screams in his nightmares. Instead, he'd spent several hours speaking to Bel and Dubs, followed by a trip to the hospital to get the cut above his eye looked at, then walking through the town until morning, which brought him to the beach.

No matter how far he could walk though, he'd have to stop eventually. Either to get food so his pokemon would feel comfortable eating or when the exhaustion and stress finally overcame his desire to avoid nightmares and the guilt that always came with them.

So instead of supporting his friends, here he was on the beach, with nothing and no one but his Poochyena to try and console him, but Franz didn't bother.

Pack members died. Sometimes from sickness, sometimes from trying to hunt something stronger than they were. Deaths were mourned because the pack became weaker and more susceptible to attacks from other packs or stronger predators. But there would be no stronger pack than his own. He was close to ascending and becoming what would be an alpha in any wild pack, yet he was far from the strongest in his own. The tree-walker had strength and speed he could presently only dream of, and the sky-serpent's power exceeded even hers.

The wing-brother would be missed. But the pack would go on.

* * *

Julia didn't blame May for not leaving her room to come to Brendan's battle. Even less when she arrived in the stands to see that the blood from the Makuhita had been allowed to sit and stain the gym's floor, a grotesque smear of dark brown just off center of the indoor battle plot.

Brendan stood confidently in the challenger's box below her vantage point in the stands. His composure was steady, not betraying any hint of his outrage. He was absentmindedly fiddling with his pokeballs, fingers flicking over Salazar and Usopp's in particular.

Julia assumed he was trying to decide which to use first. His Grovyle was unquestionable stronger than the Wingull, but the bird could create space to avoid most of the damage from fighting moves, or just hang back and pepper his opponents with water gun. If she had to guess, Usopp would lead and have Salazar in the back for the second pokemon. A similar strategy to the one Luke had used.

Her brother had mentioned that no matter how well the first battle went, he'd be sending out a fresh pokemon to fight Brawly's second to avoid anything like what happened to their mentor's Tailow.

That's when Brawly entered, walking towards the middle with all the swagger a man in his mid-twenties could summon. He was wearing a carbon copy of the orange tank-top from the previous day to show off his muscled arms but had swapped the sweatpants for a pair of blue athletic shorts. After he and Brendan shook hands and exchanged words nobody in the bleachers could hear, both returned to their boxes.

A Wingull and Machop were sent out simultaneously, and the battle began.

Brendan squatted in his box, and although she couldn't see them Julia was sure his eyes were darting between the pokemon and the other trainer. His mouth never stopped moving, providing the bird with a constant stream of orders and information as it flew in and out of the grey humanoid pokemon's reach, slamming it with jets of water at every opportunity.

It took several minutes for either trainer to change tactics despite neither making any real headway in the battle. The jets of water weren't strong enough to do much more than push the Machop back, and the fighting-type wasn't willing to overextend for risk of a counterattack. It was a defensive showdown, testing both trainers' patience and ability to recognize what could become a stalemate between the two. Whoever changed first would be at the disadvantage based on the other trainer reacting to whatever the new strategy their opponent employed was. And Brawly cracked first.

"Tsuln, seismic toss!"

Brawly's shout could be heard clear across the arena, while Brendan's immediate reply went unnoticed unless you were watching for his lips to move.

The Machop had to jump in an attempt to grab the bird, but Usopp was too fast, slipping out from between the fighting-type's arms. Only to then grab onto its leg to hurl the muscle-bound combatant to the ground. When the bulky pokemon was trying to get up, the Wingull pressed the advantage, slamming into it with his beak, wings, and talons.

Dark blood was leaking from numerous shallow wounds across the Machop's body when Broly finally recalled it. As soon as the referee awarded Brendan the round, a red return beam absorbed Usopp. Brendan wanted to take no chances with his pokemon's safety.

A moment later, a Meditite materialized across from Salazar's emerging body, and Brendan's mouth started moving again.

Unlike the previous bout of two defensive mindsets, both trainers were focusing on offense. The Meditite set up defensive barriers to reduce the damage it was taking, and then started throwing haymakers in an attempt to take the Grovyle out in one shot. Meanwhile, Salazar rushed around all of his enemy's attacks to land fury cutters judging by his movements becoming erratic and more violent.

Then, in an unexpected move, Brawly stepped forward and threw _something_ at the Grovyle's face, causing him to stumble as the dual-type finally landed a hit to Salazar's jaw, just above the neck. Time seemed to slow as the Grovyle was launched into the air, blood and spittle flying from the gecko's mouth, until he crashed to the ground in a heap.

Brendan's mouth was open, but not moving for the first time in the battle. Salazar's ball was in his hand, but he didn't return his starter.

As soon as the Meditite turned away from its opponent to face its trainer, Salazar struck like a gecko from Hell. It wasn't a fury cutter, or an absorb, but he moved like a green streak until he blindsided the smaller pokemon with a vicious clothesline that had it spin a full rotation and a half in the air before it landed on its head, completely unconscious.

Julia's brother finally managed to close his mouth to celebrate with a simple fist-pump as Salazar stumbled back to him, breathing heavily. Brendan stroked his starter's head leaf several times before recalling him into the pokeball stasis.

The two met in the middle of the arena to shake hands again as Brawly presented him the Knuckle Badge he'd earned. All that Julia could think of, however, was how she was going to have to deal with fighting Brawly.

* * *

Luke had caught the end of Brendan's battle when he was passing by the battle club on his continuous walk to delay sleep. He wouldn't have even noticed it if Franz hadn't given a happy yip when he saw one of the humans he knew of the screen.

Well, good for Brendan. He kept his team safe and earned the gym badge. Luke would have to congratulate him whenever he saw him next. But if Brendan had already finished with his battle, it meant that Julia's would be in a couple hours, the last battle scheduled before the lunch break.

As he absentmindedly watched the advertisement that popped up on the television when it cut away from the gym, Luke felt a knot of stress uncoil in his stomach. Diminutive compared to the larger whole, but still that much less he needed to worry about. He was relieved that Brendan's team had emerged relatively unscathed, although the blow his Grovyle took was worrisome, and that Brawly hadn't seemed like he'd been trying to kill Brendan's pokemon.

Knowing that Julia still had to battle was hard though. She was a different archetype from either himself or Brendan. Her passivity only ever being interrupted by outbursts of either insight or strategy changes set her apart from her brother, while her lack of basic set-play and structure made her different from him. Luke really hoped her style wouldn't come back to bite her in this battle, given Brawly's casual disregard for leaving his opponents' pokemon alive.

"Hey! You're the guy who battled Brawly last night, right? The one with the Gyarados?" A voice from the battle club's doorway cut through his thoughts.

Luke turned to see the speaker, a teenager who looked just a little too young to get his trainer's license with reddish-brown hair and a stocky build. He was a bit shorter than Luke, probably around 5'5" or so, dressed simply in a black polo tucked into a pair of khakis.

The trainer groaned internally when he processed who the kid was and the likely reason he was announcing his presence. He was going to congratulate, criticize, or apologize for the way Brawly killed Shigure. Or get upset that he beat the gym leader of his town. One of those options.

"Yeah, that's me," The Unovan said with a fake smile, "what's up?"

The blue-eyed boy did not actually want to know what was up and wasn't entirely sure why he even responded to the boy. But he already had, so now it was time to deal with where the storm blew him.

"Dude, you've got to come inside! The me and the others would love to talk to you for a bit." Instead of waiting for a response, the boy took Luke by the wrist and pulled him into the clubhouse, through the main hall, and into a side room that was a lounge judging by the couches, coffee table, televisions, and fridge.

An assortment of people sat on the couches, seven in total, although Luke didn't have the time to process what any of them really looked like before the boy from the front pushed him in front of the main television, obstructing the other peoples' view of the screen.

"Isaac, what are you doing?" A girl with curly red hair asked, moving her head in an attempt to see around him, "The next match is about to start, and I want to see how they go through the first exchange."

"It's all good Stacy," the boy, Isaac, said, "don't you recognize this guy? He's the one from last night with the Gyarados!"

After Isaac said that, Luke suddenly felt eight pairs of eyes on him. He'd literally just been dragged into a clubhouse for some kind of interview or interrogation without his consent. Granted, he could have pulled away from Isaac at any time, but he hadn't and had to deal with it now. Well, he didn't _have_ to, but he would. No point in making a bad reputation worse.

Instead of bolting form the room, Luke stuck one hand in his pants pocket, and raised the other one up in a wave as Franz ran up beside him.

"Yo."

The match on the television was instantly forgotten as the members of the battle fan club started firing questions, and the biases that Luke had been expecting came out. Stacy was ecstatic to meet him and seemed to have nothing but compliments and an apology for what happened to Shigure.

A bald man who looked to be in his thirties scowled and criticized him for a lack of strategy and finesse. He seemed more disappointed in the lack of tactics than in the fact that two pokemon died.

A woman with long blonde hair practically refused to speak to him because Dart killed one of Brawly's pokemon. With no regard for the fact that the Makuhita killed one of his pokemon moments before Luke had summoned the Gyarados.

The others didn't particularly care about him, instead asking them to move out of the way of the television, which they did. Until one of them, a woman with a young face, curious eyes, and short black hair asked a question that made his blood freeze.

"Are you related to the trainer 'Bloody' Williams?"

* * *

Julia wasn't sure she was ready to face Brawly. Luke hadn't responded to the messages she sent that morning or the night before after his match, May still hadn't left bed to her knowledge, and Brendan had gone back to stay with and comfort May.

She'd be facing Brawly alone. No support from any of her friends in the crowd, no final words of encouragement before the battle started. Just her and her pokemon against a trainer who'd killed one of Luke's. Normally she was more confident in her pokemon than in herself, but not so for this battle.

The teen knew how well Luke trained and prepared, but even that didn't save Shigure from being killed. She wasn't half the trainer or battler that he was, so how was Julia Carols supposed to win this battle?

As she walked across the arena floor, Julia's right hand found Oliver's pokeball. The Marshtomp was the only pokemon she felt comfortable sending out to battle in the gym. Selina had a type disadvantage and wasn't remotely battle ready. Chocolate was ready to fight but wouldn't be able to take many of the supereffective hits without fainting or worse. Kord's downfall wasn't his type or battle experience, it was his attitude. He just didn't want to fight and as such didn't bother to do so. Zattara, her Abra, had displayed an aptitude for teleporting and nothing else, so he couldn't battle either.

Which left the bulky mudfish she relied on so heavily. Julia knew that Oliver believed there was no enemy he couldn't beat, but she knew that he could lose as easily as any other pokemon against the wrong opponent. Her team didn't exactly offer her any other options though.

Brawly's introduction and handshake barely seemed real to Julia. Everything was slightly out of focus until she arrived back in the challenger's box when everything snapped back to clarity, colors becoming vibrant and edges defined. The knot of anxiety in her stomach loosened as a feeling of resolve spread out from her core as she looked down at Oliver's pokeball.

Oliver hadn't failed yet, and he wouldn't now. Even if she didn't believe in herself, she did need to trust in her pokemon, especially the leader of her team. And if he couldn't win the battle on his own, Kord would get over himself and be the clean-up crew.

At the referee's signal, Oliver appeared from his capsule ready to fight. Just like in Luke and Brendan's matches, Brawly started with a Machop.

Without needing a cue from Julia, Oliver jumped forward, spraying water on the ground between himself and the fighting-type. Then, he waited, keeping the slick floor between himself and his opponent. The Machop was hesitant to approach, but eventually did so.

As soon as the humanoid pokemon set food on the wet area, Oliver launched forward, sliding on his belly to close the distance and tackle it far faster than he would have been able to otherwise. A brief grapple struggle later resulted in Oliver pinning the Machop to the floor and blasting it point blank with a powerful jet of water, knocking it out cold.

The referee called the round for Julia as Oliver came back to her side of the ring, facing the gym leader down. Brawly smiled.

"Your Marshtomp's got guts girl, I like it. He's a brawler through and through, with the strength and skill to back it up. This round's going to be fun."

"You say that," Julia said in a normal speaking voice as Brawly sent out a Makuhita, "but the last time I saw one of those it killed one of my friend's pokemon." Julia's eyes could have been cut from actual steel as she glared at the man across the arena from her. She didn't think he'd be able to hear it, but the sigh he gave off said otherwise.

Oliver was off as soon as the referee announced the start of the battle, covering ground more than twice as fast as the Makuhita as they slammed into each other on Brawly's side of the arena. To everyone's surprise, the fighting-type was sent sliding back a full meter.

Which was just enough space for Oliver to launch another jet of water before attacking the rounder pokemon from the side as it recovered from the water blast. It was a tour de force for her Marshtomp until Broly's pokemon grabbed him.

The image of Shigure's neck being snapped flashed through her mind as a terror flooded her system. Oliver, her starter and protector, being killed in front of her eyes. Oliver, who had killed to keep her alive and safe. The thought alone nearly made her sick.

Then Oliver slammed his rear legs into the fighting-type's thighs, then it's knees, causing them to collapse, allowing him to make an escape. In no time Oliver was all over his opponent again, mixing brutal body-checks with powerful sprays of water.

The battle was still going, but both trainers and most of the spectators knew who was going to win. The gym leader's pokemon was tired and overwhelmed while Oliver, although breathing heavily, never took his fin off the gas.

With a sigh, Brawly returned his pokemon before Oliver could pummel it into unconsciousness and walked forward to meet Julia in the middle.

"Congratulations, you earned the Knuckle Badge. And I am sorry about your friend's Tailow," Brawly said before Julia could get a word out, "but I was just doing as I was told. I pissed a lot of people off with it, breaking league protocol and killing a challenger's pokemon, but I didn't have much of a choice."

Julia glared at him before looking down to his belt and then back to his eyes. "What do you mean you didn't have a choice? You're a gym leader, the only ones that can order you to do anything are the elite four and the champion. Or the mayor of Dewford about something relating to the civilians, but I don't think that applies here."

"I wish," Brawly said with a sigh, "but I can say it wasn't any of them. Nothing more than that though. Especially with the wet season coming up here in a couple weeks. It should have started already, but the fronts haven't gotten here for some reason. Anyway, good luck on the rest of the circuit, have fun."

As Julia returned to the locker room, she couldn't help but feel uneasy about what had happened. A non-league entity telling a gym leader what to do? She had no idea who or what it could be, and she didn't really want to find either.

* * *

The next morning, the four teens were back on a Briney Co. ship headed towards Slateport City, the second largest port city in Hoenn, only slightly smaller than Lilycove City on the other side of the region.

As soon as the ship was on the open water, Julia felt better. Her stress about what Brawly had said fell away along with the pressure of having Luke with the group and acting normal again, as though Shigure hadn't just been killed. Frankly, it disturbed her to see him swing from the anger at their argument to the anguish of Shigure's death to return to normalcy as though none of it had happened. After all, just because she felt better didn't mean her curiosity went away, or her concern.

She wanted to get him alone to talk to him but hadn't found a good time to do so. He was almost always either playing cards with the rookies, sleeping, or absorbed by the 'nav he'd criticized so much at first.

Finally, the night before they landed at Slateport, she caught him alone on the deck at sunset. He was leaning on the railing, propped up on his elbows, wavy brown hair that normally came down to his eyebrows blown out of his face by a gentle breeze. He gave her no acknowledgement when she came up beside him, looking out over the orange sea to the dark clouds brewing behind them.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, breaking the silence with what she felt was a safe question to ask. His breathing remained even, and his eyes remained locked on something beyond the horizon. So he had known she was there, despite not acknowledging her presence.

"Eh, I'm alright." He said after a sigh. "Been better, been worse. Gotta say though, I'm not the biggest fan of Dewford. The island or the city."

Then he yawned, stretching his arms as far above his head as they could reach. In no time, Julia was yawning too, slumping forward on the railing. The top half of her body was hanging over the edge, but she didn't mind. Even though she hated being up high and hated looking down from them even more, she was fine looking down at the water below, despite having no idea how deep it was. It was water, not ground or air. She could swim, and Oliver would be able to help her if she did fall.

Luke must have thought otherwise, placing a hand on her shoulder and pulling her torso back over the ship. "Enough stuff has gone wrong recently, let's not tempt fate to throw you off."

She shrugged off his hand before leaning her shoulder into his chest, resting her head on his shoulder. Luke was only a few centimeters taller than her, but the angle she was leaning at made it easy. His breathing was deep and regular, not quite in time to the rocking of the ship. To her surprise, he made no move to push her off or pull away from the contact.

"I wanted to apologize for losing my temper after the cave, and for the argument in general." His words surprised her, mostly because she felt the vibrations coming from his chest as much as she heard the words he spoke. "I should be more honest with you three about things like that, things that can wrap around and affect the entire group. There are still going to be things that I won't talk about, but if it concerns any of you three, I'll tell."

"Waves and winds," Julia said as she straightened, grabbing Luke by the sleeves of his vest as desperation crept into her voice, "we never found Steven to deliver the note! Mr. Stone is going to-"

"He's not going to do anything," Luke said as he pulled her hands from his vest, returning them to her sides before gesturing back towards the distant Dewford, "because I delivered the note while I was off."

Julia slumped back into him as she felt her knees lose strength in relief. He caught her and held her up, holding her slightly away from him until she found her legs again. Steel eyes met blue as she straightened, a smile pulling at the corner of her mouth.

"Carry me?"

"The momentary failure of your legs didn't convince me. Your words will not either."

* * *

The tall, dark skinned man finally stepped off the borrowed Mantine that took him across the sea, and onto the beach of Slateport City. Step three, accomplished. Now it was time to move onto the most important step.

Keith was hungry. And nothing would stop him from accomplishing step four: finding food.

As it turned out, getting conflicting sets of directions from a pair of children would stop him from accomplishing step four on time. Even though he hadn't eaten, Keith wasn't _too_ bothered. It was a nice walk.

That's when it happened. He saw the structure that had his salivation. The Seashore Restaurant. A blessed establishment that allowed trainers to battle for their meals instead of paying.

Keith walked into the restaurant and marched up to the counter. The other patrons parted ways for him willingly.

After all, Keith was huge compared to most other people. He stood at 200 cm, nearly 205 if you counted his flat-top, and was built like a tractor, with well developed muscles almost bulging out of his arms.

When he got to the counter, he unbuckled his backpack, set it down next to him, and looked the employee dead in the eyes before speaking in a deep, calm voice.

"Will you help my parents feed me?"

All eyes in the restaurant were on Keith, nobody quite ready to grasp the absurdity of the question he just asked.

"W-would you like to t-try our battle special, s-sir?" The cashier managed to stutter out. This man was seriously freaky. And intimidating.

Without breaking eye contact, Keith nodded his head. The employee reached into a fishbowl nearby and drew out a slip of paper. He calmed down quite a bit when he read the name on it, evident from his sigh of relief.

"Rebecca! You're up for the dinner challenge!"

"Sounds good! I'll meet them out back!" a feminine voice shouted back from the kitchen.

As Keith walked out the back door to the battle plot someone unwrapped a sandwich.

Immediately after the sound was made, the heavy and luxury balls clipped to his belt opened and released a Munchlax and Buneary respectively. The Munchlax looked up at Keith and made grabby hands.

"Not now Boss. Battle, then snack." The blue-furred pokemon looked down dejectedly before stretching his arms up and yawning. Finally, the small pokemon turned and nodded to his trainer. The Buneary seemed like it was giggling.

"Mimi, you can be his tagout, since you're out already." Keith spoke to his pokemon as he walked to his spot of the sandy field, stretching his arms to the sky as his pokemon did their things. Boss sat down and scratched at his stomach while Mimi bounced around happily.

"So, you ready for the dinner challenge?" the feminine voice from earlier shouted across the plot to Keith, cutting his stretching short.

"Yes, I am ready to eat," Keith said confidently as he turned around, still looking to the sky, "that is what I get when I win, right?"

Keith's confidence didn't slip when he looked down and saw Rebecca. Definitely not his confidence. Only his focus on the battle that was about to sent out something, some pokemon, Keith wasn't paying attention. Instead, he just shooed his Munchlax forward, his eyes never leaving this Rebecca person. He trusted Boss' training, abilities, and instincts. Well, maybe not the last one, since his first instinct was always to eat and his second one was to sleep. Not unlike his trainer.

* * *

**Enter Keith. I have fun with Keith. Keith is fun, and the character would appreciate that.**

**As always, huge thanks to maycontestdrew for the reviews!**

**In general, I'd like to have more reader interaction, feedback, and engagement though, since I only really get to hear a handful of people's opinions on this story when I know there are more of you out there. SO! What would you like to see me do more of, either in the story or author's notes? What would you like to see less of? I'm a curious guy, let me know! Plus, since you've all been either bored or kind enough to give my story a look-see, I'd like to do something back.**

**Anyways, I'll be gone until I'm back again. Stay safe y'all.**


	19. Chapter 19

**And like that, I've returned. Many mortals will wonder if I was intentionally updating regularly only to skew it with another late update. I wasn't, this is just when I got around to finishing this chapter, but wonder they will regardless of what I say about it.**

**Anyways, this chapter is mostly filler. Character stuff happens, not too much plot stuff. Until plot stuff decides to show up no matter what I told it to do.**

**Let's kick it.**

* * *

Dubs had told him she'd have Bastion delivered to him in Slateport. What she didn't tell him was _where_ in the city he was supposed to receive the pokemon. Knowing her, she'd have someone find him and deliver it, take the little bit of control he had out of the situation. He wasn't thrilled about it.

In the meantime, he was walking around the port town with Brendan trailing behind him. There wasn't any animosity that Luke could tell, just thinly veiled worry and a bit of suspicion. Honestly, the Unovan couldn't blame the younger boy. The rookies had witnessed him send out a Gyarados with the intent to kill Brawly's Makuhita. The worry was as easily explained, he hadn't ever seen someone lose a pokemon to Luke's knowledge and didn't know how Luke would react.

Except they were only concerned because they had _seen_ Shigure killed and the immediate effects of the bird's death. As far as Luke knew, they had no idea Ewan was dead instead of sent to the ranch he housed the pokemon that weren't currently on his team.

The amount of concern that even Brendan was showing was touching really. The boy with a one-track mind over training and getting ready for the next battle or challenge expressing concern for him? True, it might just be an attempt to protect his source of information and training, but it was still touching. And if he was showing this much, how much were May and Julia expressing when he wasn't there?

The last thought was concerning, they didn't need to worry about his well-being or safety near as much as they needed to worry about their own. Losing a team member sucked. It sucked real hard, and if he had a say in it, the rookies wouldn't have to experience it. But try as much as he would, he didn't think he'd be able to stop it. Just delay it as long as he could.

Some people said that losing pokemon never got easier. The Unovan had decided that they either hadn't lost that many, or that they deserved all the pity he could spare them. Because it _did_ get easier, at least for him. Shigure's death stung, but the grief wasn't incapacitating like the first had been. Luke was infuriated by the situation that had killed the bird more than he was the death itself. Which, from a humanitarian standpoint, was horrible.

Which was not to say that he didn't care for his pokemon as friends and companions anymore. He definitely still did to keep the mutual trust of protection that he had told Julia about. He still got attached to every pokemon he caught and trained, even the ones like Matthew and Serra that he didn't keep on his team. They weren't expendable, and each one was special to him.

But he still had a job to do, a task that needed to be completed. As much as he'd like to take time to mourn the flying-type, it simply wasn't an option. Luke needed to move forward. He might not be alive anymore, but Luke wouldn't be able to forget him. Not the morning he'd caught him, not the training they'd done, not the way he chirped when the team was out relaxing, and not the way he'd been killed. His nightmares wouldn't let him.

Regardless, he was touched that the rookies were so concerned. Their innocence and care were bright enough Luke wanted to shield them as long as he could.

The blue-eyed boy suddenly realized that they had almost made it to the northern edge of the city, where a crowd was gathering in front of a huge building. From the outside it looked like a concert hall, or a small sporting arena. Eyeballing it, Luke assessed it was only a bit smaller than a league gym.

"Want to check it out?" he asked Brendan, jerking a thumb towards the crowd.

Brendan's snort was nearly enough of a response on its own. "Hardly, I'm not interested in contests, kinda surprised that you are."

"What's a contest?" Luke asked, frowing as he edged closer to the crowd. "Contest of what? Some kind of race or sport?"

"Well, if you must know," a familiar voice that Luke did not particularly want to hear said from his left, "they're pokemon contests. Coordinators compete to see who has the coolest, most beautiful, smartest, toughest, and cutest pokemon. For refined people who don't want to watch the brutish thing you call battling."

As Brendan started to reply back, Luke cut him off with a raised hand and a deep sigh.

"You say that Syd," Luke said as he turned to look at the woman, "but if memory serves, you're a battler too."

Sydney, or Syd as Luke tended to call her, was by no definition a large woman. She was barely over five feet tall, and incredibly slim, although she had filled out some since he'd last seen her in Unova. Her brown hair fell down to her waist, held back in a high ponytail. She was wearing an orange shirt under a grey windbreaker. Her legs were covered by skinny jeans going down just above her ankle with low-cut sneakers protecting her feet. Her brown eyes were partially obscured by the glare on her glasses, but still seemed to ooze warmth from her coffee-brown irises.

"So, uh," Brendan said, looking between the two awkwardly, his mouth partially agape, "I guess you know her Luke?"

"Yeah, she's a friend from back home." Luke said with a sigh as he handed Brendan his money card, "Go back and find the girls, get a suite like you guys always manage to do. I've got some catching up to do with Sydney, just text me where we end up."

"Aww," the girl pouted, although her smirk was barely hidden, "is that how you introduce me now? Just a friend?"

"Yeah, I'll go ahead and leave." Brendan said, taking the card and heading back towards the market May and Julia had been walking around last the boys had seen them.

Which left the two Unovans alone in the crowd, staring one another down. Luke jerked his head to the north. "Let's get somewhere a little less populated for this talk, yeah?"

Syd shrugged, her eyes hard behind the glasses. "Sure. Lead the way."

"Please," Luke said, his arm making a sweeping gesture with his right arm, "after you."

The pair walked out from the crowd, moving past the final few buildings and an obnoxiously large red and blue tent. Within half an hour, they were alone, not a single other person in sight, and likely not anyone in earshot either.

Luke's right hand hadn't left his hip pack the entire walk, just like how Syd's hadn't strayed far from her jacket's pocket. With a sigh, the two turned to face each other.

The metal of Heracles' ball was cold against his fingers as he tensed and relaxed his hand around it. There was not a world where he wanted to have a battle with Sydney at any point, but even less when he only had two real battlers on him compared to the four or five that she normally carried. Gojira and Heracles were stronger than any given pokemon she owned, and better trained, but he didn't like the odds in a five against two battle. Luke liked them even less when he remembered what pokemon she used.

Sydney moved suddenly, closing the distance while the blue-eyed boy was distracted by his thoughts and couldn't react quickly. Both her hands were by her sides, ready to shoot out and either release a pokemon or strike him while his guard was down.

Instead, she wrapped her petite arms around in what he assumed was supposed to be a bone-crunching bear hug, planting her forehead in the center of his chest. Luke's arms moved without the trainer needing to think, gently wrapping around his old friend.

It was a familiar, comfortable position for them both. Neither said anything for several minutes until Sydney broke the silence. "I hate to say it, but we do need to talk."

"I know." Luke sighed, but didn't move his arms until she did.

As much as he would have liked to just keep sitting and enjoy his friend's company, the _did_ need to talk. A lot.

* * *

Julia had waited until they were all in the sitting room of their suite before she brought it up. It wasn't exactly something that anyone who might be listening needed to hear, and something that certain people, she had no idea who, could absolutely not be allowed to hear them say.

Brendan and May were on the couch, lounging comfortably just far enough away from each other to not be in physical contact. Julia spun one of the table's chairs around so that she was facing them directly. She propped her chin on her hands as she collected her thoughts, working through how she would tell them.

"After my battle," she started, not looking directly at either one of them, "Brawly said something to me, in response to me bringing up what happened with Luke."

The two sixteen-year-olds were no longer lounging back, but sitting up straight to hear more. They all felt horrible for what had happened to Luke, May feeling sorry for the Tailow more than its trainer, but the two of them had no idea why it had happened.

Julia felt bad for keeping it from them for so long after her battle but needed to be sure that Luke wouldn't catch them talking about it. She didn't know how he would react to the possibility of being targeted by some weird conspiracy, although she knew enough to guess that he wouldn't take it very well. He'd probably make some excuse about them being safer away from him and run off into the night. Which she was trying to avoid.

"He didn't say much," Julia explained, watching as their faces fell, "but he did say that he was just doing as he'd been told. And that he didn't have a choice in the matter."

"Tauroshit." Brendan said as he stood up to pace the room. "He's a gym leader. The only people he answers to are the Four and Champion Winstrate. And they wouldn't just tell him to kill a challenger's pokemon."

May sat silently, her fingers laced, and lips pursed. Julia wished she could tell what was going through the other girl's mind, but she wasn't a psychic. If she had to hazard a guess, it was likely just reinforcement to her ideal that the league, and battling in general, was atrocious.

"He said that it wasn't from in the league," Julia said, her voice sounding stronger and firmer than she expected it to, "but he couldn't, or didn't, tell me anything else. Something about how weird it was that wet season was late, but that was kind of a non-sequitur."

"Do you think it's Team Aqua?" May asked, making the siblings both turn to look at her. "Or the other one, Team Magma?" The younger girl's eyes were downcast, a small frown tugging at the corners of her lips.

"It would make sense, right?" the younger girl continued, "We ran into them before, and Luke is the one that really dealt with them between the one he fought and the unconscious ones he took care of for us."

"I mean, yeah, but if that were the case why wouldn't they try anything on me or Julia?" Brendan asked, sitting across the table from Julia, "Why Luke?"

"Well, he fought Brawly first, right?" May said, balling her shirt in her hands before relaxing them and repeating the process, "The message only needed to be sent once. And it connects the comment about wet season, since they've been boycotting a lot of the shipments to and from Dewford Island."

"I'm not saying I disagree," Julia said as a knot of anxiety and dread formed in her stomach, "but I don't think we can just jump to that conclusion with what little we know."

The steel-eyed girl really hoped it wasn't Team Aqua. One less than friendly interaction with them was more than she ever needed to have.

May shrugged. "Sure. But either way, it does mean that the gyms aren't as safe as we thought they were. Brawly was _told_ to kill either one or both pokemon Luke was using. And he did. What's to say the other gym leaders won't be given the same instructions? Or, my way of saying that you guys now have another reason why you shouldn't be challenging gyms."

Brendan frowned, saying "I'm with you, the gyms aren't as safe as we thought. But the idea of someone, or a group of someone's, being after us is just as much incentive to keep training and getting stronger. If people are going to come after or attack us, I'd rather be overprepared than overwhelmed."

Julia squeezed her eyes shut before she spoke again. "None of this is good, and there isn't a good way out of it. If we keep training and keep challenging gyms, we're practically inviting the conflict. But there's no guarantee that it'll stop if we stop the circuit. It's effectively a lose-lose situation."

All three teens sat in silence for a moment, contemplating her words. She wished she knew what to do, or that she could ask Luke or her dad for advice, but neither of those were good ideas. Luke because he'd likely just up and leave, her dad because he'd probably send them back to Littleroot until they were in their thirties. And she couldn't give up the freedom she'd just gotten a taste of.

"I'm sorry for just dropping this whole thing," Julia said as she vaguely gestured to the room around them, "but you guys needed to know, and not telling you sooner was tearing me up."

"Luke doesn't know, does he?" Brendan asked after a brief pause, chocolate eyes meeting steel.

"No."

"Good. Let's keep it that way."

* * *

They had walked back to Sydney's apartment when she'd asked if they could go somewhere more comfortable than the edge of the city. Luke had agreed without hesitation, inviting her to lead the way.

That's where they sat, on her couch with the news on the television just loud enough to dissuade people from trying to listen in as they talked.

Luke enjoyed her company. He almost always had, and likely almost always would going forward. She was easy to relax around, something that he'd had an acute trouble with recently. Which she noticed, of course.

"You're twitchy," She said, poking his side with the television remote, "and aggressive. Sure, you're better than you were right after it happened, but that's hardly saying much. This trip was supposed to be helping you. Or, at least, that's what the boss-lady told me."

The teen sighed, slapping the remote control away from his side. "It's hard," he said, and continued before she could ask the question he knew was coming, "all of it. From not having you guys around, to training a whole new team, to mentoring a group of rookies, to the search, all of it."

As soon as he finished, he wished that he hadn't. Sydney's eyes froze, locked on his own before he looked away with a cringe. This is why being so relaxed around people could be bad, some things didn't need to be said.

"You're telling me," she started, her face inching closer to his own, "that you let her wrap you back up in her wild Swanna chase again? After what it did to you last time?"

Their faces were only inches apart, although he was making a point of not looking at how upset she was. As much as he cared for her, his job was important. It wasn't just a job, it was his _reason_. That didn't mean he was OK with her being this upset with him, or that he wasn't upset at his slip-up.

Emotion began to boil up at the corners of his eyes as he processed the information he'd let sit for too long, emotions that he'd pushed out of his consciousness. But as soon as the saline drop streaked down his face, he put them back in check, bottling and capping the emotions.

"I'm sorry you're upset about it," Luke said in his best attempt at a flat voice, "but it was always my purpose when I came here. My own health and well-being are secondary. You know that."

Sydney pulled back, crossing her arms with a pout. "You're more important than you give yourself credit for. People care about you, apparently more than you do yourself. Do you think Bel would be OK if you succeeded but didn't come back? What about Pitch? Or Wh-"

"I get it," Luke said, cutting her off as his voice rose, "I disagree, but I get it. But how do you think I would feel if I came back after I failed? I'll give you a hint, it looks like more of ten months ago."

"I don't think you do." Sydney said, her own voice barely audible over the television. "What about your friend here in Hoenn, who has no idea? How would he react? What about someone like me, who is much closer to you? Your mom? Sister? Brothers? All over something that isn't your fault."

"It is my fault, and no matter what any of you, Bel, or Dubs say I won't be convinced otherwise."

"Hold on," Sydney said as she raised her hand palm-out, "even _she_ agrees that it wasn't your fault? Dude, get over yourself and look at the picture. I've heard you say that you aren't important. Hell, just a minute ago, you practically called yourself expendable, something I wish I could say I'd never heard you say before. If you're so inconsequential-"

"Stop" Luke tried to interrupt, his voice shaking, but she would not be deterred.

"If you're so inconsequential, why do you blame yourself for this-for everything really? You can't have it both ways, being both the reason everything that does go wrong does and not at all impactful in any of the things that go correctly. For crying out loud you turn twenty in what, five months, yet you haven't learned to see past the end of your nose."

Luke's frown was immediate. "What do you mean twenty? It's this region's excuse for winter, my birthday is in the fall."

"You do realize that the seasons are flopped, right? We're in the southern hemisphere. It's summer back in Unova. Besides, we're close enough to the equator that there's hardly a temperature difference between the seasons, the big difference is in the amount of precipitation." Sydney replied as Luke's jaw dropped.

He'd always had trouble keeping track of the months without knowing what it felt like outside. And he had roughed it out in eastern Unova for a while before Dubs and Bel convinced him to try another region, but it never really hit him. He'd been nineteen the entire time he was in Hoenn and never processed or realized it. The date had passed back in Unova, but he was too preoccupied to even notice.

With good reason, a part of his mind wanted to say, age is just a number that society placed a certain value on. The planet had made another revolution of the sun, big whoop.

He must have been staring into space for a while, because when Sydney interrupted his thoughts, her face was a mask of concern. Making her worry and stress was just another thing he'd have to bear the guilt of.

"I never really thought birthdays were important," he said, eyes fixed on his boots, "but I guess missing one puts things into perspective, huh?"

He knew he wasn't fooling her. The fact that he'd missed a birthday was inconsequential to him. It was the idea that he'd been so dissociated from the world around him that he didn't recognize how much time had passed. Rather, he hadn't processed how the days were adding up in the months that had passed. He was nineteen, not eighteen. Which meant Chris was sixteen and probably starting on his own journey. Amelia was probably finishing her internship. It was anyone's guess where his older brother was, but Thunder and Snowfire he was twenty-three!

"So, what brought you to Slateport?" the Unovan female asked, placing what he was sure was supposed to be a reassuring hand on his back. Instead, it added to the pressure. He knew she was walking on eggshells so she wouldn't set him off and it frustrated him to know that he would lose his temper so easily. Maybe she'd been on to something with him being more aggressive lately?

"It's more or less a pit stop for us," Luke said, leaning forward and away from the touch, "we're resupplying and getting some light training in before we head north toward Mauville. What about you? Why do you have a full-blown apartment here?"

"I got offered a position as a judge at the Contest Hall," she said, reaching for a glass with a fizzy liquid inside that Luke didn't remember seeing her pour, "plus a spot in the orchestra. Temporary of course, but still good money and experience for the future."

"Oh, also," she said as she dug around in a purse left open on the floor, "this was addressed to you at my mailbox. Any reason someone thinks we're living together?"

She passed him a padded orange envelope package about the size of a notebook. From the weight, he already knew what it was. To think about it, Sydney probably did too. At least, she probably knew what it was in general. Luke would bet money she wasn't sure which one though.

"Thanks," Luke said as he folded it and squeezed it into his hip pack, "out of curiosity, is Patti doing alright? It's been a while since I've seen her."

Sydney smiled.

"Why don't we go ask her?"

* * *

A woman with long, ash-blonde hair led Keith around the museum. Rebecca was a year older than him at twenty-one, although the pale woman seemed to have the energy of an eight-year-old the way she dragged him from exhibit to exhibit.

He'd asked her if she wanted to do something after her shift when he went for lunch for the third day in a row, but this wasn't quite what he'd been thinking of. He wasn't one to complain though. Truthfully, he'd been surprised that she agreed to do anything.

But Keith assumed it had less to do with him and more to do with just getting out and about. Since she'd been in such a rush to get away that she was still wearing her waitress uniform, knee-length black skirt and white button down shirt with the restaurant's logo on the breast pocket, white knee-socks and shoes that he estimated had a zero percent chance of being comfortable for long shifts or walking around the museum. She had put a light black jacket on to cover the logo though.

Keith reckoned it looked ridiculous, him being pulled around by someone nearly forty centimeters shorter than him, but he was fine with that. He didn't need a woman his height dragging him around. In fact, a woman the same size as him would be fairly terrifying. Even one that was only slightly shorter than him, like the boy with the white hair standing so close to the girl with a red bandana, would be way tall.

Then a bunch of pokeballs opened. Inside the museum. Which was odd, but maybe they were just part of one of the exhibits? Rebecca was pulling him toward the stairs faster than she'd been going before, but he didn't mind, his legs were plenty long enough to keep up with the increased pace.

He noticed the look of panic on her face when they got to the second level. Her increase in pace didn't have anything to do with wanting to get somewhere faster, it was her trying to get away from something. Because she was _afraid_.

The panic got worse when they she pulled him into what looked like a mugging. Five people in almost identical baggy white and black striped shirts with blue bandanas stood around one man in a navy polo, pokeballs at the ready.

Keith sighed as he pulled Rebecca behind him and stepped towards them, pulling a couple pokeballs from his pocket. Boss hadn't eaten since that morning, so he would have been cranky. Mimi was probably still tired from battling at lunch. Minnow was too big to be sent out indoors. Rocky and Skittles were good options though.

"So, uh, not that it's really any of my business or whatever," Keith said as the goons finally took notice of him, "but I don't think this is the time or place for all that." He gestured at the five of them surrounding the single man.

"You're right," one of them said, a man with a pale face and red moustache, "it is none of your business. So scram before we do something to you and that girl behind you." Keith decided he'd call that one Ready. After all, he seemed so ready to attack whoever he wanted. Keith didn't think Ready was ready for the whooping coming his way though.

The dark-skinned man clocked Ready in the jaw as they all sent out pokemon, his own Sableye and Skorupi emerging and immediately attacking the horde of Poochyena and Zubat the goons had brought out. Plus a Marshtomp and Grovyle that came from behind him to start helping his pokemon, which was helpful, but he didn't know Rebecca had such rare pokemon.

"HOLD IT!" a voice shouted from behind him, making all the freaks in bandanas stop. Keith took advantage of the pause to knock Ready down to the floor again before turning around.

The man stood across from Keith and between a group of teens that he assumed were the actual owners of the grass and water types. And damn, he was big. Not quite as tall or broad as he was, but still a huge guy. Maybe around 190 cm? And if he was a tractor, this guy was at least a heavy-duty work truck.

Soot-black hair was barely held back by a familiar blue bandana stylized with a rounded 'A'. His hair went down his dark face in sideburns that fed into a pointed beard. The white button-down shirt under a dark blue jacket had the top three buttons left undone to show off his toned chest and a necklace that ended in a golden anchor. Tight blue pants were held up by a gold belt with several pouches hanging from it, plus a freaking cutlass by his right hand. By the mountain this guy was a _badass_ no two ways about it, and he had a swagger made Keith look at him.

"I'd like to apologize for my subordinates," the man said, spreading his hands in a placating gesture as he moved toward Keith, "but first, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Archibald Tribuo, but please, call me Archie."

The boy with the white hair Keith had noticed earlier took the chance to speak, "Wait, what do you mean your subordinates? Are you in charge of-"?

"Quiet little guy," Archie growled without taking his eyes or focus off Keith, "the adults are talking. As I was saying, I'm terribly sorry for my subordinates. I'd asked them simply to find the illustrious Captain Stern so I could talk to him about helping me design something, a little pet project of mine. It had slipped my mind that Charlie has a tendency for being a bit aggressive. And I'm afraid we don't actually have the time to discuss it. Unless any of you are interested in Team Aqua?"

"I'm not really a joiner." Keith said with a shrug as two of the grunts picked up Ready and carried him between them, followed by the other two grunts, then Archie himself.

Silence was left in the wake of the men leaving the room, the trainers inside left looking at each other and the broken display cases. Keith returned Skittles and Rocky before double checking that Rebecca was alright. Thankfully she was, so he turned to the man he'd helped.

"Will you help my parents feed me?"

* * *

**And that's the chapter. We got to see Luke interact in person with someone from Unova, the rookies talking, and Keith fight some grunts. This chapter had everything I wanted it to. Yes, we are going to ignore that I literally decide what goes in the chapters.**

**Regardless, I figured I'd add something to the ending AN's, an extra bit of information that I haven't really been talking about in the story or AN's. Levels. They don't really exist in-world, but they are incredibly important outside of the story and inside the game. After beating Brawly, Luke and Julia's teams were as follows:**

**Luke:  
Rebecca, 22  
Dart, 22  
Franz, 17  
Amelia, 16  
RIP Shigure, 21  
**

**Gojira, ?  
Heracles, ?**

**Julia:  
Oliver, 21  
Chocolate, 16  
Kord, 20  
Zatarra, 15  
**

**As you noticed, this is only for the pokemon that they carry with them, since it doesn't include Matthew or Serra. Or the Lotad that we haven't seen in a while.**

**Anyways, I'll be gone until I'm back again. Stay safe y'all.**


	20. Chapter 20

**So. I've been gone for a while, haven't I? I mean, yes, of course, we all knew the answer, go ahead a berate and blame me. But being an at home student during this virus has been weird for me, and one of my part time jobs is an essential and they no longer care about overtime. So I've been a bit busy ever since the pandemic response kicked in, late as it was.**

**Special thanks, as always, to maycontestdrew for reviewing!**

**Anyway, here's chapter the 20!**

* * *

As the four left Slateport, Luke knew that he would miss the port city. Rather, he'd miss eating lunch with Syd every day, and just being around her in general. Getting to see Patti and that she was healthy and doing well also took away a weight of anxiety that he hadn't realized he'd been holding in.

She had waited until the next to last day to do it, but Syd had given him Bastion's pokeball. The red on the sphere had turned pink from constant use and hardships, and the metal was scratched to hell in most places, chipped in others.

But the familiar weight, the feeling of holding that ball in particular brought the Unovan comfort in a way that only being near Sydney could compete with recently. He had no idea if Bastion was actually stronger than Gojira or Heracles, but he trusted Bastion more than any of his other pokemon at this point. The experiences they'd shared, the battles they'd won, it was all a consequence of having been around Bastion longer than the others.

Even when he couldn't actually feel the ball, like that moment as they approached a house just beyond the outskirts of the city, knowing the ball was in his hip-pack did wonders for Luke.

The rain that poured down over the four as they walked? Not as much.

"Hey, I know we haven't gotten as far as you wanted today," Julia said to him as she sloshed through the mud to catch up, "but why don't we see if we can stay there for a while? The rain should ease up in a couple hours." She was motioning to the house which, although it had its curtains drawn, had light leaking from the windows.

"I'm with her," Brendan said from a few feet behind, "maybe even stay there long enough for our boots to dry? The trip between here and Mauville is shorter than between the other cities we've been to, but this is miserable."

May, for her part, hadn't complained a single time about the weather or the slightly ambitious pace Luke was setting. Judging from the way her feet seemed to drag a bit though, she didn't want to be out in the wet any longer than she needed to be.

"How do you know it'll ease up in a couple hours?" he asked as they drew closer to the building, "Because the clouds aren't agreeing, and there isn't enough wind to move it past us that quickly. I think."

Franz chose then to splash in the biggest puddle he could find, sending mud and even more water into his trainer's boots. There was absolutely nothing he would change about the playful pup. But sometimes his playfulness got the better of him, and onto Luke's nerves.

"It's the way storms like this work," May chimed, shielding her eyes from the fat droplets, "they pour for a few hours, then settle into a drizzle for a day or so. Are storms not like this in Unova?"

"Not remotely," the blue-eyed boy said as he made his way toward the building, "this region is weird. Now that I know that, my vote is also for getting inside to wait out the rest of the downpour."

His Poochyena yipped suddenly as a ball of green shot out of the grass nearby to tackle the dark type. Franz kicked it off with relative ease as the Electrike rounded for another tackle.

It took a moment for Luke to realize, but the wild wanted to _play_ with Franz instead of attack him. Which the Unovan could understand for the most part. Canine pokemon had a reputation of being playful with strangers, especially the basic evolutions. Growlithe, Poochyena, and Lilipup, were popular pets and beginning pokemon for that very reason. But they were generally different in the wild, forming packs and generally keeping to their own playmates, suspicious of other groups and strangers.

The two kept rolling in the mud and water as the humans made their way to the door, the rookies shooting glances at the pair of dogs playing.

"He should be fine," Luke said to comfort them, although by their faces it didn't do much, "Franz is strong, and we'll be right inside to spring out and help him. 'Sides, whoever's house this is probably doesn't need it to smell like wet dog and be covered in mud when he shakes out his fur."

Brendan shrugged and knocked on the door, which opened on its own. "Hello?" he called out as he stepped inside, followed by the other rookies, "Anyone home? We just want to get out of the rain for a while."

Luke didn't like it. He didn't like it one bit as slid his backpack off at the door and stepped inside, slipping Bastion, Gojira, and Heracles' pokeballs from his hip pack to his vest pocket. Common sense told him that people didn't just leave their houses open and unlocked in the rain. Intuition told him a house like this shouldn't be this far outside the city, needing to walk four hours just to get to the outskirts. Instincts told him to get out.

"Guys," Luke said, keeping his eyes on the still open door as he backed into the house, "we didn't get permission to be in here, this could constitute as trespassing. I'd rather be wet and innocent than slightly less wet and a criminal." He could still hear Franz's playful yelps outside, although it was hard with the sound of the rain pounding the roof over his head.

They didn't respond. The Unovan teen's instincts kicked in as he dropped to the floor and rolled to his right, hearing the whistling of something above him. He chanced a look into the room to see the rookies all passed out on the ground, three humans and two pokemon standing behind furniture. The pokemon were a Golbat and a small green pokemon with red and blue flowers in place of hands. When he paused his roll, the teen noticed a thin green film on the floor and a sweet taste on the air.

"Freeze it all, sleep powder," he muttered as he pulled his soaked t-shirt over his mouth and nose, his eyes starting to water. Thankfully, when one was around it as much as he had been over the past few years, they built up a tolerance to it, similar to his slight resistance to psychic damage. Although a strong enough concentration of it would still knock him out for a while or being around a small amount for too long.

Luke reached for a pokeball when the first light flashed from the Golbat's eyes and the humans started moving toward him. He screwed his eyes shut to stop the confuse ray from disorienting him any more than he already was and opened the first ball he grabbed.

The chirp from the center of the room let the Unovan know it was Rebecca that got released. Not a good match-up on either pokemon, assuming the flower was a grass type, but it'd do for the moment as something thin and strong grabbed his hand, stopping him from sending out anyone else.

Assuming it was a vine, Luke sprang to his feet and dropped his shoulder to charge in the direction he thought one of the humans was in as Rebecca started moving around the room. The soft, fleshy resistance gave the teen the satisfaction of having hit one of them.

The satisfaction was short lived as something stabbed into his upper arm, immediately making him woozy. A needle. They'd injected him with something, some kind of drug to either kill him or knock him out.

His shirt slid from his face, and the last thing he was conscious of was a burst of the sweet-smelling powder being blasted into his airways.

* * *

Julia woke up to something scratchy and wet being dragged over her cheek. She opened her eyes and was face to face with Franz, the Poochyena whining nervously before giving a yip of elation when she scratched him under his chin. She'd seen Luke scratch him there as a reward for when he did something well.

The Electrike from earlier was behind Franz, a growl low in its throat. She reasoned that it might think she was trying to hurt its playmate. No sense in trying to calm it down at the moment though, Franz would be enough to keep it in check. She hoped.

Her brother and May were knocked out on the floor on the other side of the small room, maybe a three-meter square. It was only furnished by a string connected to a lightbulb above, the room's only source of light other than the slightly cracked door the pokemon must have come through.

Speaking of pokemon, the steel-eyed girl quickly checked her belt, horrified to find that none of her pokemon were there. She quickly checked the younger teens' belts too, with the same result.

As she shook the two in an attempt to wake them, she realized Luke was absent from the room. He wouldn't have just sent Franz and the Electrike to find them, he would have come himself. If he realized what had happened.

Actually, what _had_ happened? She remembered walking into the living room of the house, dripping wet, and some flashing lights, but nothing after that. Was it a pokemon? A pokemon attack? Something had ambushed them, and then took their pokemon.

Was it somehow connected to the person or group that had told Brawly to kill Luke's team? Or had it been random? It didn't really matter either way, her goal was the same. Wake Brendan and May up, find Luke, get their pokemon, and get out.

The first task wasn't going too well until the Electrike came over and placed a paw on Brendan's stomach before shocking him. Julia wasn't sure if it was the electrical stimulation or the pain, but it opened her brother's eyes right up, gasping for air.

Franz growled at the other canine before licking May's face, clearing it of a light green powder before he yawned, stumbling onto May's face. That's when the younger girl managed to wake up, sitting up fast enough to send Franz flying almost a full meter away.

"Wha-Franz?" the girl asked, looking at the pup first before looking around the room, "Brendan, Julia? What happened?"

Brendan opened his mouth to speak, but ended up retching instead, the contents stained green.

"Keep it down," Julia hissed at her brother, "I have no idea what's going on, I only just woke up too."

Footsteps came close to the doorway, which Franz positioned himself in front of. The Electrike soon jogged up beside him, sparks flying from his fur. With no idea what was about to come through the door, Julia wasn't too thrilled that all she had between her and it were a Poochyena and an odd wild Electrike.

A growl came from low in Franz's throat as the hair on his neck and back stood upright. Julia's eyes widened as the growl got deeper in pitch as he began to glow black.

It wasn't the first evolution she'd seen, but it was the first time she'd seen a dark type evolve. Oliver had glowed a silvery blue when he changed forms, Salazar a bright green. Dart had been underwater and obscured from her sight. Julia had assumed they glowed based on what color they were.

But it looked like tendrils of shadow were wrapping around the pup, consuming the light in the room, before bleeding away to reveal the Mightyena Franz had become.

The man who opened the door didn't have the chance to call out before Franz slammed into his stomach to wind him, leaving him gasping for air. Then Franz took the man's shoulder into his mouth and did his best to bring his teeth together.

This time, nothing stopped the man's scream as he passed out from the pain, accompanied by the crunch of his bones in Franz's jaws.

Brendan was the first to move, lifting himself up from where he'd vomited and running into the hallway, bracing himself against a wall beside Franz. May moved next, a horrified look on her face as she stepped over the unconscious man's form to stand next to Brendan. Julia was last, peeking her head around the doorway first as the Electrike ran between her legs to stand beside Franz.

It was a decently long hallway, with a line of doors on the right side. The room they had been trapped in was the last door on the hall. At the opposite end was a staircase. Surprisingly, nobody seemed to be coming to investigate the scream.

"Franz," Julia whispered, "can you take us to Luke?"

A soft whine came from the dark type as he started to make his way toward the staircase, the rookies and Electrike following. He led them up the stairs where he paused, sniffed the air, and pushed a door open, padding softly to the right after the door.

He continued leading them until he reached a door that he scratched at. Brendan tried the knob, finding it to be locked.

"Drown it all!" a voice echoed from the other side of the stairway they'd left, "All you've got to do is erase the tag without releasing the pokemon! I've seen you do this so many times before, what's taking you so long?!"

The rookies approached the voice with their two-pokemon army and peeked around a corner to see three men and a woman standing around a machine with a pokeball on some kind of sensor, similar to what PokeCenters used to read life signs while a pokemon was still in its ball. In the corner of the room a set of lab equipment was arranged on a table, several portable stoves being used to heat something Julia couldn't quite see.

"Dude," the man in question said, sliding a pair of wire-rimmed glasses up his nose, "these balls are different, man. The coding isn't what I'm used to working with. Besides, if I rush it the ball opens and we have to deal with whatever's inside, like the Poochyena you wasted."

The man with the glasses motioned to the corner of the room opposite the lab set-up, and Julia's heart was about ready to crumble. Her Chocolate lay in a bloody heap, sightless eyes watching the one's who killed her. Julia had to use both hands to cover her mouth to keep a sob from escaping.

"I don't care they're different, you're supposed to be good at this! You used to work for the Devon Corporation for the Sky's sake!" the man in the middle shouted into the tech's ear, spittle flying onto the other man's face, "We need to get these processed and shipped, we already got paid and spent it! It's like I'm the only one here who cares about not getting killed."

"C'mon man, chill," said the woman as she reclined on a couch, "worst comes to it we sell the whole batch to pay them back instead of getting our own highs from it. Not our fault you wasted a trip on the fighty one."

"You, know what, screw it," the tech said, setting the nest ball he'd been working on to the side and reaching for a dusk ball, "I'll try one of the other ones, they might be easier to crack."

Once his fingers touched the dusk ball, Franz bolted into the room, knocking the table with the balls and tech over. Usopp, Salazar, Cinder, and Zatarra exploded into the room in flashes of light when their balls fell on the release trigger.

The four thieves managed to send out a Roselia and a Golbat, although both were quickly made unconscious between the trainers pokemon and the Electrike.

"Where's the key to our friend's room?" Julia asked the four, who had moved to put the couch between them and the six pokemon, "And no sudden movements."

Without saying anything, the man who'd been shouting fumbled in his pockets to toss a key at her, which Brendan caught.

"Get him out," she told her brother before turning back to address the strangers, "as for you, what in the name of the Sea and Skies are you doing here? Some people come knocking to get out of a storm in wet season and you kidnap them, the fuck is that about? And when you can't figure out a way to steal their pokemon, you start killing them?"

The tech raised his hands in what Julia assumed was supposed to be a placating gesture. "We weren't ever going to kill you girlie, and we didn't want to kill the pooch either. Just trying to look out for numero uno, ya' know? We got guys breathing down our necks over here."

"In what way does that justify kidnapping people and stealing their pokemon?" May asked, green eyes filling with something that didn't seem to fit her face. Julia wasn't sure she'd ever seen this particular expression on her friend. "You all are sick, twisted people. You couldn't make it in the world so you turned to crime."

The angry one laughed. "Oh, we made it in the world, farther than any of you ever will. Then the people above us decided to bend us over and-"

"Uh, Julia?" Brendan's voice asked as he came up behind her, "Luke is kind of the wrong color."

"Oh shit." The woman mumbled as she looked past Julia.

Oh shit was right as far as Julia was concerned. True enough, the teen's face and exposed skin was tainted a slight, sickly green, his lips and nose swollen. His breathing came in small, strained wheezes, eyes rolled into the back of his head. At this point, she was pretty sure she'd be throwing before they managed to leave the house if the boiling in her stomach was anything to go by.

"By the mount and sea," May muttered, "what did you do to him?"

"He was fighting back." Angry said, his face not expressing concern, "So we dosed him with the concentrate and Petal gave him an extra puff of the raw stuff. I knew he could take it since he didn't fall asleep right away like the rest of you did. Kid's got some resistance to the stuff."

"You mentioned something about not wanting to die earlier," Brendan said after he laid Luke down on the floor, "who would be attacking you?"

The woman shrugged. "No telling. Macho has us behind on a couple of payments. Besides, we aren't telling you little shits anything."

Brendan shrugged back at her. "Fine, you won't say anything to us. Maybe you will to the officials."

* * *

Julia hadn't surprised either her brother or her friend when she volunteered to be the one to wait for Luke to wake up in the hospital he'd been taken to after they'd called law enforcement. Instead, she was surprised when after half an hour of waiting another girl rushed into the tiny room, only acknowledging Julia's presence with a blink and small nod.

Long brown hair on a short pale woman, glasses in front of brown eyes. She fit the description Brendan had given her for Luke's friend from Unova perfectly.

Instead of taking a seat next to Julia, the woman leaned against the opposite wall with eyes locked on the trainer between them. She was trying to keep her face impassive, but a number of ticks gave away her anxiety. Chewing on the corner of her lip, drumming her fingers against her thigh, and blinking just a bit too often.

"So, you met Luke back in Unova?" Julia asked after what felt like an hour of the two of them watching his sleeping form. The other woman didn't look up, but confirmed with a nod. "What's your name? He doesn't talk much about, well, anything from there."

"Sydney," The Unovan said, finally looking across to Julia, "and I assume you're Julia? He's told me quite a bit about you."

"All good things, I hope?" the steel-eyed girl said, locking eyes with Sydney. Brendan had mentioned she was short, but by the Sky the other girl was _tiny_.

Sydney snorted in a brief laugh. "He never has only good things to say no matter who he's talking to or about. Or he just doesn't say anything at all. I'm sure you've noticed that though."

"I mean, yeah." Julia said with a tiny shrug, "I guess I wanted to know what he told you about me. He doesn't talk about himself all that much, sort of was going for some insight."

The other girl shrugged. "I'm not in the business of sharing what people tell me in confidence, good or bad. There are enough gossips without me being one of them."

"Worth a shot," Julia muttered before looking back at her unconscious friend. "How did you guys meet? It was total coincidence for us, and I don't really think he'd be traveling with anyone if he hadn't run into us."

"I was performing in Nacrene City, at a café he happened to stop in at before his gym battle." She explained, eyes returning to Luke's green tinged face, "His friend invited everyone there to come watch his fight, said they wouldn't want to miss it, then something about it being the best tier-two battle they would ever see. So I bit, went to watch, and he won pretty handily. Then the friend who invited everyone won just as quickly."

Sydney took a pause to sigh, closing her eyes and looking to the ceiling. "Then I got a call back for a gig in Castelia City. The next day I might have, umm, taken a wrong turn in the forest, got completely lost. He happened to run into me after he also got lost chasing after his friend who'd run ahead of him. We kind of stuck together from there for a while. It was random, but it was fun."

"Huh," was the best response Julia could come up with, "he really does just sort of run into people, doesn't he?"

This time, Sydney's laugh was high and bright, "I guess you could say that. Always getting tangled up in things that have no business with him. If destiny exists, whoever made his must have had a field-day."

The Unovan woman stepped toward Luke's bed, holding one of his hands in both of hers for a moment before letting it rest against the mattress again. "Regardless, it's getting late, visiting hours are almost over, and I need to practice. I'll probably see you here tomorrow."

* * *

Luke hated waking up in hospitals. At least this time there wasn't anyone literally standing over him to conk heads with. However, there were several downsides. A light cast had been placed around his left wrist, apparently it hadn't finished healing in the time since being fractured outside Petalburg. Additionally, his shirt, vest, belt, and hip pack were gone, although they had left his cargo shorts where they were. Several needles were in his right forearm, connected to bags filled with something he had no clue about.

Then again, even if he'd been conscious and informed when they were inserted, he probably still wouldn't know what they were. His expertise with regards to injuries had never been in healing them.

There was also something in his right hand, corners digging into his curled palm. It was a crumpled piece of paper, with a curling script that he easily recognized as Sydney's. After his eyes managed to focus enough to read it, he sighed as a knot of tension untied itself within him. She had Bastion, Gojira, and Heracles, although not the hip-pack itself, which meant that the 'dex was missing.

When he thought about it, he had no idea how he'd ended up in the hospital in the first place. There was the Electrike, the house, the strangers, and then he got dusted. All of which happened in the morning.

"Franz." He muttered, staring at the ceiling, "he must have gone to get help."

After a few more minutes of lying there, Luke carefully reached over and pulled the needles from his arm and grabbed the plain white t-shirt that was placed at the foot of his bed. He dressed to the sound of the machines whining that they weren't connected to a body anymore. He looked at his reflection in one of their screens to see two blue eyes looking back at him. Good.

Checking out of the hospital by himself was a hassle, only made worse by his Unovan documents taking longer to process and verify. Plus the clinic, not hospital as he'd been told by the secretary who was currently doing his paperwork, was running on a skeleton crew for the moment. His bag, pokeballs, and hip-pack were all given back to him when he'd finally gotten out of the building. Luke opened his 'nav to see several messages. Two from Bel that he'd never responded to, four from Julia, and one from Sydney.

JC: Don't know when you'll see this, but Franz evolved, don't know if you'll check your 'nav or pokemon first

JC: Your friend from Unova caught the Electrike for your since they wouldn't let it in your room in case you're wondering what the great ball is doing with your stuff

JC: The doctor said it might take as long as a week for you to wake up, and B decided that was too long to wait, so we're heading toward Mauville. We'll be fine though, you don't need to worry or race after us, he was just impatient, and we didn't feel like putting up with it

JC: We're heading out, see you in Mauville

The last one was from two days before, according to the time stamp that accompanied it. Push came to shove he could blame the headache and irritation on waking up from getting dusted. That's definitely where his agitation was coming from.

Sydney's was just telling him to stop by her apartment before he left town so they could talk. She didn't say what they'd be talking about, just that they needed to do so. Joy of joys, he could feel the headache getting worse.

The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon as the Unovan made his way to Syd's apartment, orange strokes painting clouds pink. He'd have to wait at least until tomorrow to set out after the rookies, putting a solid three-day distance between them and him.

Not much of a chance to actually catch them on the route itself, too much space to cover. If he were to book it, Luke might be able to beat them to Mauville, but that wouldn't actually do much to keep them safe in the wilderness between the two cities.

Which meant he'd need to try to track them down in the wilds, hard as it might be considering the area he'd need to cover and the wet weather.

The teen's shoulders dipped slightly in a sigh before straightening again. The rookies might be a handful, but he knew how to use a bag to make loads easier. Besides, he had two hands.

"They'll be fine without me while I catch up," Luke said to himself. Even to his ears it sounded hollow. "They'll have to be."

Trying to trick himself was nothing new to the Unovan.

* * *

**As always, if you want to know something, have a question/comment/concern/quandary, drop a line. I haven't had the time to write much, but putting down a few sentences to answer a question? I can squeeze that in every so often.**

**Regardless, the tag I always put at the end of my chapters is even more important now that before in a manner of speaking. Not the being gone until I'm back again. Seriously, stay safe y'all. Don't take risks with COVID, Corona Virus, Big 'Rona, whatever you may want to call it.**

**Peace. Stay safe. Wash your hands.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Well, I am pleased to inform you that this chapter took me less than a month to get this chapter up. Big 'Rona is killing me softly as my essential job continues to work me dead and my feet still getting used to the inserts for my shoes.**

**As always, thanks to maycontestdrew for her reviews! If you have any comments, drop them in a review or a PM.**

* * *

The blue-eyed teen had essentially given up on locating the rookies in the wilds after a torrential downpour had destroyed what he had been assuming were the tracks of the other trainers two days out of Slateport. The forced acknowledgement was painful to say the least, but he focused the pain in the way he'd always been most comfortable with. Exertion.

Without the rookies there to question him or divert his attention, Luke was able to get _actual_ training sessions with his entire team for the first time since Littleroot. Bastion, Gojira, and Heracles all served as immovable training partners to his younger team, shining examples of what they would become.

The correction of would become to could become came automatically to the Unovan, the memory of Shigure's broken body rising to the front of his mind unbidden. He did his best to push it and the acrid bile back down. After all, that's what sessions like these were about.

Sain, the Electrike that had been caught for him, and Franz were weaving around Gojira's restrained attacks to either find or force an opening for one of them to land an inconsequential blow to the titan. Amelia observed the electric and dark type pokemon but paid more attention to the monster they were "fighting".

Rebecca was playing a high-speed game of tag with Heracles that Luke knew she couldn't win. Even though she was the fastest and most agile member of his team, she couldn't compete with the sheer difference in experience and training. Every so often the trainer would have them switch so Rebecca could work on evasion and escape, but he allowed her natural desire to be on offense to reign most of the sessions.

Meanwhile, in the ocean just to the east of the rest, Bastion and Dart swam.

To his credit, the leviathan seemed to be doing the best in comparison to his teammates. Luke knew better than to trust that appearance though.

Bastion was literally swimming circles around his junior, winding around him with speed and power the serpent hadn't ever encountered in the lake he'd spent his life in as a Magikarp. Each time the Gyarados' temper boiled over, Bastion was quick to reassert which of them owned the span of sea they were in though controlled blasts of water or slamming into the younger pokemon.

Every day, Luke would change who trained who and which of his pokemon would get his personal attention in battling the few other trainers he came across and the wilds but kept falling back to this arrangement. Why fix what wasn't broken?

If he kept at his current pace, it would only take a few more days to reach the next city. What was it called? Maui? Mooresville? It was lost in the training, and it didn't really matter anyway. He'd finally be able to find the rookies again and make sure they were staying safe in his absence. Maybe he should have taken a bus on the triathlon bridge like the people back in Slateport had recommended to make sure he beat them to the other city, but hoofing it had let him train without distractions or having to worry about the rookies seeing the pokemon he'd smuggled into Hoenn.

Honestly? The training was worth delaying his arrival in the city. It had to be. Sessions like this, short as they might be in the bigger picture, saved the lives of his team, his friends, and could help him keep his charges safe. He just had to trust them to be there when he arrived.

Which, ironically, was easier than trusting his own decisions.

* * *

The three of them had been in Mauville for two whole days and Julia's clothes still weren't dry, no matter how long they spent in the machines. Or, even if they did get dry, the humidity made it so they still clung to her and made it feel like she was walking in soup whenever she left their suite. It was, in a word, disgusting.

It was also part of the reason she and Brendan had not yet gone to the gym to apply for their preliminary battles. The on-and-off rain showers and obscenely high humidity made going anywhere a chore, even across the street to the 'center's cafeteria.

The other reason indirectly had to do with the absent member of their party. Luke had helped them with the registration and paperwork in Dewford and done the entire process for them in Rustboro. Her brother might be supremely confident that he would do it correctly, but she wasn't. Not by a long shot.

Besides, it felt wrong to do it without him there. Skies, hiking and camping without him felt like riding a bike with only one side of the handlebar. Perfectly possible, but why would you do it? In her case, sating her brother's desire to progress and soothing his irritation at the lack of progress he was making.

Speaking of, Brendan was once again tired of waiting, fastening the buttons over the zipper of his rain jacket. Patience never had been his strong suit.

"You're worrying too much," he said before she had even opened her mouth, "it's just some paperwork, agreeing on a date and time for the prelim, and a signature or swipe of our license. You don't need him holding your hand for something a kid could do."

"Well, she doesn't _need_ him holding her hand," May said as she entered the common room, "but a couple of us would be incredibly happy to see it happen. Better than seeing pokemon tear each other apart."

Julia watched her brother's face contort in annoyance. Thirteen days back, the fourth day out of Slateport, Brendan had been challenged by an unusual trainer in a red jacket with the oddest wager she'd ever heard of. If Brendan won, he would 'win' one of the pokemon the other trainer used. If he lost, he had to go to some interest meeting for a conservation company.

Brendan had won the battle pretty handily, the naturally occurring rain doing no favors for his opponent's fire and ground types and letting Usopp battle in his natural habitat. Brendan selected the Torkoal, which the stranger had released and let the rookie catch. When she'd asked why he was so willing to give away one of his pokemon, he shrugged and told her it was freshly caught, and his company was sponsoring his mission to raise awareness. Nobody actually expected him to win any battles, just see faces and spread the word about what they were doing.

Funnily enough, Julia still had no real idea what it was the company was doing beyond a half-explanation of sustainable agriculture and researching better irrigation methods. But she didn't really have a problem with what he and his company were doing, she just thought it was an odd way to advertise it.

May, on the other hand, had remained silent on the matter until the stranger was out of earshot and lit into Brendan about responsible ecosystem management and how he shouldn't have agreed to the battle, and shouldn't have accepted the Torkoal as a prize. After all, according to May, pokemon weren't something to be given out as trophies or prizes. It was one of the few things she managed to agree with the league about, Wallace's administration having banned pokemon from being sold as prizes for the game corner.

And that was all it had taken for the two of them to resume an old argument, if battling for sport and competition was right or wrong. The two friends had gone from practically flirting to being passive aggressive junior students over the course of a couple hours.

Thankfully, Brendan let the comment pass as he straightened his jacket. "C'mon guys, we're burning daylight. Let's go get our names in the books."

The walk to the gym wasn't too long, the rainclouds having broken above them for the time being, sun shining softly against the trio. While her brother seemed to revel in it, the added warmth just made the humidity all the clearer to Julia. She wasn't just walking through soup. She was becoming the soup.

A boy was standing in front of the gym doors, head tilted back so far the black-and-white cap on his head threatened to fall off. He was diminutive, to say the least, probably not even 160 centimeters, and about as thin as a rail. He barely looked older than a child, dressed in a pair of green rain-pants with a white rain jacket.

There was a man standing at the boy's shoulder, but Julia's attention was focused solely on the boy with pale green hair. She wasn't sure what it was, but something felt off about him, yet strangely correct at the same time. Brendan slowed so that they were side-by-side as they approached the pair.

"Oh, hello." the boy said without turning his eyes from the entrance, "You two are on the league circuit, aren't you? Would you mind helping my practice before my preliminary match?"

The boy's voice was flat until the end of his question, peaking with the slightest bit of hope. She was about to answer in the affirmative, but Brendan responded faster.

"Sorry kid, we have our own battles to sign up for and fight." He said as he walked right by him to push through the door, leaving his sister and friend outside. Julia glared at him until the doors closed behind him before turning to the boy.

"I'd be happy to help you practice." she said before pulling a couple pokeballs off her belt, letting them roll around in her palm. "Where do you want to practice?"

His eyes lit up as he grabbed her hand to pull her into the building, dragging her past the reception desk to lead her to a small, side gym battlefield. The man who'd been with him, presumably his father, and May followed through the door several seconds behind the two of them.

Julia was left rubbing her wrist as the boy dashed over to the opposite side of the gym. His grip was a lot stronger than she'd expected someone with arms like twigs to have, plus he practically dragged her through the lobby and hallway. She was nearly 20 centimeters taller, and probably a few kilograms more massive, but the steel-eyed girl wasn't sure she could have stopped him if she wanted to.

"Sorry about that, my uncle said I had to be polite to everyone I asked to battle," the boy said, taking his hat off and handing it to his uncle with what she could only describe as reverence, "and you're the only one to have agreed. Oh, and by the way, my name is Wally."

"Well, Wally," Julia said with a smile as she tossed her team members between hands in an attempt to distract herself from the dull ache that had settled in her wrist, "like I said, I'm happy to help you practice, but is it ok that we're in here? These gym rooms aren't open use like the plots at the park."

He waved off her concerns as he slid the jacket off, revealing a white button-down shirt, with the top button being done despite not having a tie. "Everything's fine, Mr. Norman talked to Mr. Wattson and got this room reserved for me."

The girls could hardly believe what they heard. In fact, if he hadn't been so sincere in everything else, Julia was sure that she wouldn't have believed him. May seemed to still be having problems though.

"Come again?"

* * *

He'd finished out the last three days of his team's training rotation before finally stepping foot in Mauville City, striding past the seedy casinos and 'adult arcades' that he had no doubt were neon-colored scams to arrive at the pokemon center. The Unovan barely managed to catch himself and not hand over Bastion, Gojira, and Heracles, instead just handing the blue-smocked nurse the team he'd assembled in Hoenn, before looking for a room to rent.

To Luke's surprise, there weren't any suites listed as available, and only a few double rooms left, with a dozen or so single rooms. Seemed like his charges' luck with rooms finally ran out. So he rented one of the singles, a corner room on the bottom floor, windows on both walls, and placed his bag down just beneath the east window. Then, he grabbed the less-damp towel and headed for the showers, dropping off a set of pants and a shirt in the laundry dryer so he'd have something to change into once he was sufficiently clean.

Once he was clean and dressed, the trainer put the rest of his laundry in the washing machine and went back to the lobby to wait for his pokemon to be given back to him. He took them, dropped his laundry off in his room, and headed for the gym. Luke might not really care about the gym challenge here in Hoenn, but it was the convenient cover for him to be there, and it would be strange for someone who'd had a fairly exciting first couple gym matches suddenly stop the circuit.

A morbid warning came from the back of his mind about the dangers of going forward with the battles after what had just happened to Shigure, but he choked them out. After the training they'd just had to endure, there was no way his team wasn't ready for a third-tier battle. Even Sain had melded and adapted incredibly well with the rest of his team in training, making himself into an excellent training partner for both Franz and Rebecca, although the sparks that were constantly shooting from the scruff of his neck kept him from ever being paired with Dart.

Then Luke entered the gym lobby and saw the decorations. The electric gym. His leviathan would not be participating in any sort of battle here, either in the prelims or in the gym match itself.

"Thanks again for all the help Ms. Julia, I'm sure I'm ready for my matches now!" Luke turned to the voice and couldn't help it when his skin froze and blood burned at an eerily familiar scene. It only took a moment for him to force the feeling out of his consciousness and plaster a smile to his face as he approached the pair.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" he asked, steel and green finding blue, "Looks like I finally caught up to you guys, and you've managed to run into Wally while I was away. How's it going?"

He reacted on instinct, jumping to the side to avoid the bull rush that was Wally. The younger boy fell flat on his front after the target of his hug-lunge moved to the side, but Luke was quick to pick him up. "Sorry 'bout that bud, you surprised me."

* * *

After three days of training with Ms. Julia, Wally knew he was ready for his match. Sure, he hadn't managed to beat her yet, but she had two more badges than him, and had been training for a lot longer. Plus, Mr. Norman was her dad!

Although being around her was much different from being around Mr. Norman or Mr. Brendan, or even Luke. Mr. Norman and his son were like mountains, solid stone and unshakeable. Luke was an overcast day that could turn into a thunderstorm at any moment and tear through whatever was in front of him with thunder, wind, and rain. Ms. Julia was like a lake, tranquil until disturbed. Except when a stone was skipped across her surface, waves would break out instead of ripples.

She was also different because her pokemon seemed to emote for her, like she was a blank slate when battling. Especially Oliver, her guardian Marshtomp. Plus, some of the time, Wally even thought she was like him.

When she would kneel down beside her pokemon and look into their eyes. It was like she knew what they were thinking, understand them just by looking into their eyes and soul, the kind of recognition that brought a new meaning to the term intimacy.

Then Luke greeted the two of them and Wally could feel the humidity coming from him. He had been a storm recently, but had finished raining, returning to a grey sky. And when he'd made his presence known, the green-eyed boy felt something agitating the waters in Julia's lake when he turned back to look at her after he'd missed his hug. Did she know Luke?

He felt a stab of jealousy as the older trainer didn't dodge her hug attempt, instead returning her embrace for a moment before pulling back and smiling at the two of them. The smile didn't reach his eyes though. If he looked long enough, Wally would probably be able to see the lightning behind those orbs.

Then Luke blinked and the threat was gone, his clouds casting a protective shadow instead of threatening to bring a storm. "Well, how about it? Feel like letting me take a stab at helping you practice?"

Wally couldn't say yes fast enough.

* * *

Keith had gotten used to the looks people gave him whenever he walked into a room. Judging looks, suspicious squints, men pushing their shoulders back and girls their chests out.

No, no, wait, that last one wasn't happening because of him. That was because of Rebecca, who'd managed to pull him all the way to Verdanturf Town so he could watch her compete in a battle tent competition or something of the like. She was still holding onto his wrist when they got to the registration table, switching it from her left to right hand so she could fill out the paperwork to enter.

He was there anyways, so he went ahead and filled out a set of forms as well, although he stumbled over a couple of words while reading. Sure, he was fluent in the language shared by Indigo, Hoenn, and Unova, but that didn't mean he liked dealing with it or had adapted to seeing it everywhere instead of the Hokkaido language he had grown up reading and writing.

The receptionist gave him a funny look when he'd finally finished filling out the forms. He returned it with a flat stare, daring him to say something. He wouldn't be wrong to criticize Keith's handwriting of course. It was sloppy in his primary language and alphabet and even worse when he was using 'global basic characters' or whatever they called their symbols.

However, that didn't mean he'd let the receptionist get away with making fun of him. Not when the Sinnoh native could make the other man laughably uncomfortable.

The clerk ended up snapping his gaze away and shrugging as he filed the paper just as Rebecca tugged him out of the tent and towards a restaurant on the other side of the road from the obnoxiously colored structure that was big enough for a pair of Gyarados to have a tumble.

"You know," the blonde said as she pulled her hair over her shoulder, "I've never lost in this tent event. They started calling me the unbeatable girl a while back."

"You'd also never lost a dinner challenge before I showed up," Keith said, "and if I didn't know the rules to that one and won, I'll probably be able to win at this too." He had to lean back from the table as the waitress set a glass of water and a glass of lemonade on the table. "By the way, what are the rules? I didn't bother reading them."

"Of course you didn't," she sighed, letting her head slump down onto the table for a moment before straightening, "did you even use your real name?"

Keith tried very hard to look offended. At least, he tried hard to look like the people who were trying to look offended on the television. He doubted she believed him, but that didn't matter. He had fun doing it.

"The tent format lets you choose three pokemon to fight." She said as she raised her glass to her lips, taking a long draught from the cold water. "You're not allowed to give them any instruction, just watch them and switch them out if you need to."

The brown-eyed man laughed, a deep rumble from his chest and belly. "No, really, what rules are there? What kind of hoops do we have to jump through?"

"I'm being serious," the woman said with a frown, setting her water back on the table, "the challenge is not being able to command your team, they have to function completely on their own."

Keith was about to respond when the waiter placed their food on the table, instead flashing them a smile as he thanked him for the food. The conversation stopped for a moment as he dug into the buttered Wishcash, starting at the tail as was his norm.

"But really," he said after finishing the mouthful of potatoes he'd shoveled in, "how is that a restraint? And how does a trainer win that, shouldn't it just be the pokemon team that wins? It sounds like all the trainer does is stand there and look pretty."

Rebecca took a moment to look up from the pasta she was eating, some tamato berry sauce dribbling down her chin. She swallowed before batting her eyelashes and putting on a sickly-sweet smile. "I did say I've never lost at it, didn't I? Or am I not good enough at looking pretty?"

Keith didn't care that his laugh drew attention from around the restaurant's patio. He was just happy to be eating good food. And maybe, he reasoned as Rebecca took his much larger hand in her own as she batted her eyelashes at him, happy he was with her.

But really, the Wishcash they had was excellent, he'd definitely be coming back here to see if the other menu options were as good. Of course he'd bring her along too, it'd cut down on how much time it would take him to get a personal opinion of every item on the menu.

Their chat turned idle as Keith finished both of their meals, Rebecca paying as they left. The trek back to the hotel wasn't long, but it was plenty long for his thoughts to wander.

How in the Void did he manage to wind up in Hoenn catching feelings for someone he'd known for all of a couple weeks? It wasn't really a question, he could trace it back to each of the branching paths that he ignored and let Arceus decide where he should go. After all, in the scope of things, he was just one person in a world of millions and even more pokemon, so why should he worry about where his life would go?

As far back as he could remember, he'd been a passive boy and man, letting everyone else worry and stress themselves out. When he turned 18, he decided to be adopt a complete hands-off approach to his life. In the two and a half years since, the flow had taken him from place to place, putting him on a journey he'd never intended when he left his parents' house for a sandwich. When he told Rebecca about it, she laughed and told him it sounded like he wasn't on an adventure, an adventure just happened to be going on around him.

Which wasn't incorrect. He had very little agency in what happened around him at any given time. In fact, helping the captain Stern guy back in Slateport was the first decision he'd actively made in almost a year where he actually considered what effect his actions could have for himself and others. Although he could make an argument for how he didn't really have a choice in the matter, the goons had threatened him and Rebecca and taken his agency away. Except he could have just left and let the goons harass that guy. But he _wanted_ to beat their faces in on behalf of the other people.

Maybe it was a sign from Arceus, telling him that it was time for him to take control of his life back. Maybe Arceus was just another pokemon that happened to be stronger than the rest, not the deity the people of his region believed it was.

As Rebecca led him through the hotel room door and pushed him onto his bed for him to wait his turn in the shower as she took a change of clothes into the shower room, he reasoned it was alright to stay hands off. It'd gotten him this far after all, and he was happy with where he was.

* * *

**Well, I don't have much to say about this chapter, I had fun writing it and hope it was a fun read for you guys.**

**As per norm, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or quandaries, let me know.**

**Also, if there's a specific pokemon you want to see in the battle tent, let me know.**

**Regardless, peace out, stay safe y'all.**


	22. Chapter 22

**So, uh, hi guys. It's been a while. I did the thing I didn't want to do and made y'all wait a full month before updating again.**

* * *

Wally confused the Unovan to an extreme he hadn't felt in a while. The short boy thrived in the mock battles they had, his enthusiasm never wavering. His green eyes were pale and almost unreflective most of the time, but they lit up and sparkled like morning dew on a grassy field when he battled.

He'd augmented his team with an undersized Skitty that moved like it was possessed by the Storm and a Roselia that didn't care for battling but did so anyway because it knew that it made Wally happy. Those two in addition to the shiny, azure haired Ralts they'd saved outside of Petalburg. All things considered, his pokemon were incredibly strong for only going for his first badge.

Of course, Luke reasoned as Franz darted around the powder clouds the Roselia was trying to fill the battlefield with, they were still far from his own team's strength. Only Amelia might not be able to beat Wally's team by herself, but that was more due to her lack of speed against two incredibly fast pokemon and another one that could teleport.

"Let's call it a day Wally," he said as Franz shoulder-checked the Roselia back to its trainer's feet, "your team is tired, more than ready for your match with Wattson, and I am hungry. Salad shop?"

It had become routine for Luke to take the boy to get a meal after their daily practice sessions in the week he'd been in Mauville. However, Wally being a vegetarian limited the kinds of restaurants he could take the younger trainer to and eliminated his own favorites. So they went to the Salad Shack together and after saying farewell for the rest of the day, Luke would make his way to consume something noticeably less healthy.

"I'm not really hungry right now." The green haired boy said as he waved a hand to the Unovan, "See you at my match tomorrow!"

Luke waved back as the boy arrived at his uncle's side and the pair walked away. After his arm dropped, the Unovan stopped fighting to keep the corners of his mouth up, allowing the frown to return to his face. Wally was a handful and reminded him far too much of a few people he used to know. Besides, the rookies had been avoiding him for the past week other than running into Julia when he first came to the gym. And if they hadn't been avoiding him, they were doing a passable job of making it seem like they were.

The teen pulled up the groupchat on his 'nav.

LW: Anyone game for food? My dinner date just canceled on me

Knowing them, his choice of words would solicit a response in no time. He managed to get halfway back to the 'center housing before the responses came.

MB: Date?

MB: I didn't say you could do that

BC: Just finished training, am hungry, where?

MB: That isn't the important thing here

JC: Let it go, and yeah, food is good

MB: Who gave you permissions L?

LW: Not that kind of date

LW: Also, who decided I had to ask permission?

MB: I DID

BC: Where food?

JC: ^

JC: What he said

LW: Just passed a burger joint that smelled pretty good, let's go there

BC: *Liked the message: Just passed a burger joint that smelled pretty good, let's go there

He sent his location to the rookies as he got a table for four. Unsurprisingly, fifteen minutes later they arrived together, quickly finding their seats at the booth as Luke stood to keep his outside seat. Julia took the one beside him, Brendan across, and May on the diagonal.

The Unovan was positive the rookies could see through the plastic smile he wore, but he didn't care too much for the moment. Let them know he was upset.

"Long time no see you guys," he said after the waitress took their drink orders, "less for me of course since I was unconscious, but that is both on and beside the point. How's it been?"

He hadn't decided ahead of time how he would broach the topic to the rookies, so he just did whatever came to him first. Which happened to be incredibly passive aggressive. He should have thought out an actual plan for this.

The rookies' reactions varied. Julia looked down at the sitrus juice the waitress slid on the table in front of her, apparently intensely interested in the yellow-green drink. May was making it a point to look everywhere but him, occasionally letting her eyes rest on Brendan or Julia for a moment before searching for something else to not look at him with. Brendan shrugged and leaned back as he sipped his lemonade.

"We didn't want to leave you behind," the younger man said as he put down his glass, "but we also didn't want to stay in Slateport for however long it took you to wake up. The doctor told us it could be a couple weeks."

"Really now?" Luke asked as his burger was placed in front of him, but he didn't touch it yet, "And tell me, what strict schedule are you following that required me to be left in Slateport? What time crunch are you under? The closest thing to a deadline you have is, what, twenty months away with the league tournament?" The Unovan took a moment to breathe and collect himself. "I just don't understand why you were in such a rush to get out of Slateport and away from me."

"We started a couple months after the season began," Brendan said with a frown, leaning onto the table, "which means right now we only have about sixteen, sixteen and a half months until our tournament cycle comes up. And we'd have to wait a full year before getting another shot. And for the record, before you bring up you needing to be around to keep us safe for our mom, we're plenty capable of protecting ourselves. We made it between Slateport and Mauville with no problems, and don't forget that we had to save you from those junkies at that house."

"Brendan, Luke, this really isn't worth fighting over, is it?" Julia asked as Brendan glared and Luke fixed a cold stare on the other, "We're all back together, and none of us are hurt. Why don't we just talk about something else? Like the food, or how you know Wally?"

"Actually," Brendan said as he stood up, "let's not. Why doesn't he prove how useful he is as a bodyguard, or safety blanket, whatever he wants to call himself? It isn't like his pokemon are that much stronger than mine, we can settle this in a battle right now at the park."

If only he know just how wrong that statement was. "I'm not opposed to a battle, Brendan," the blue-eyed boy said as he picked up his sandwich, "but I am incredibly hungry, and would like to eat the burger I paid for. And the fries that came with it."

* * *

Luke and Brendan stood on opposite sides of the field, rolling pokeballs in hand. Just knowing the types they had, Brendan should have an advantage since Luke didn't have an easy answer to the other boy's Grovyle. But that was hardly ground to assume who would win.

"How many do you want to use Brendan?" Luke's voice cut through her musings, reminding her that the battle wasn't theoretical, wasn't just two people saying they could beat the other.

"Three sounds good. Now c'mon, I've got mine ready."

Luke heaved a sigh as he took three balls from his belt. A nest ball, lure ball, and pokeball. Rebecca, Dart, and Franz. Brendan was holding two pokeballs and an ultra ball. Probably Salazar and Usopp, with Raph the Torkoal in the ultra ball. Luke was going for power that Brendan couldn't overcome, with Brendan trying to play into type coverage.

The older trainer didn't wait for a signal for both trainers to release their first pokemon. He just tossed the lure ball into the field for Dart to erupt from. Brendan frowned as the serpent coiled on the ground, taking up nearly a third of the field.

Julia frowned too as Brendan sent his Wingull out to fight the much larger water-type. She doubted he had, but it seemed like the Gyarados had grown even larger since she'd last seen it on Slateport's beach. It was likely just the size difference between the serpent and seagull making Dart seem larger than he actually was.

When they started fighting, the difference between the two would have been immediately obvious even if she was watching strangers. Luke adjusting side to side to get a better perspective on the fight without saying a word to either his pokemon or his opponent. Brendan's mouth moving, issuing a chain of commands as his feet remained rooted.

That being said, Dart's comparatively overwhelming power was almost completely negated by his inability to hit the seagull pokemon, only augmented by the other dual-type's use of supersonic that had Luke covering his ears for a moment.

"Dragon rage."

A purple ball of flames burst from Dart's mouth, swallowing the little bird inside. May turned and walked away from the battle when she heard the bird's shrieking from within.

Luke raised a fist and Dart stopped the attack. She was appalled by the damage he'd done to the bird. Blood leaked freely from its wings and beak, and many of its feathers were either burnt or torn away. The red return beam assuaged her fears some. Luke hadn't killed Brendan's pokemon.

Then her brother sent out his new Torkoal, which Luke frowned at. To Julia's dismay, he didn't recall his leviathan or ask Brendan if he wanted to call off the rest of the match.

So she watched the serpent coil around the turtle and unleash more of those purple flames where his opponent couldn't evade even if it was fast enough. When the flames blessedly stopped, she was glad that the turtle didn't look nearly as bad as the seagull had when Brendan recalled it. Probably just the fire-type being an all-around bulkier pokemon?

To her surprise, a recall beam absorbed Luke's Gyarados as well before he sent out Rebecca to face Salazar, who emerged from Brendan's pokeball just a moment after she came out.

The bipedal lizards were insanely fast, to the point where Julia was once again amazed that her brother could fire off commands fast enough to keep up with the battle. Although as soon as one of the Grovyle's claws started glowing green in what she thought she assumed was a fury cutter, Luke's arm shot up, nest ball in hand, and returned his gecko, allowing Salazar to stop and catch his breath.

Cuts littered Brendan's pokemon's body as it stood panting, crouched low to the ground so it could move quickly if threatened. Trails of blood traced their way down Salazar's arms to drip to the ground as Luke's eyebrows drew together in what looked like concern. By contrast, Brendan's face was stone as he stared at Luke with a question behind his eyes.

Instead of answering the unspoken question, Luke let Franz out of his ball. The Mightyena's hackles emerged with hackles raised, only to let them drop and his tail wag when he saw it was Brendan and Salazar.

Brendan didn't waste the opposing pokemon's moment of hesitation, shooting off commands as Salazar shot forward, claws pulled back. To Julia's surprise, Franz nearly managed a dodge on reaction, the claws barely scratching his snout. The dark-type howled in defiance before stalking around his injured opponent, looking every bit the predator his species was in the wild.

Seeing it made Julia's stomach twist. Chocolate would have been a Mightyena by now, just as large and intimidating as what Franz had become. She could taste the acidic bile at the back of her mouth, the tears trying to force themselves from her eyes, but she wouldn't let them fall, not yet. Not where they could see.

Franz had had enough of the waiting game he was playing with his reptilian opponent. The canine dashed forward and brought both pokemon to the ground where they thrashed and wrestled until Franz got his jaws around Salazar's upper leg.

The resulting crushing sound nearly made her lose her stomach and made Brendan's eyes go wide in fear as he returned his starter pokemon immediately. Luke snapped his fingers twice to call Franz back to his side where he scratched and pet the pokemon for a moment before returning him.

Brendan said nothing as he ran past her towards the pokemon center to get his pokemon treated. Luke watched him go with a sigh as he sent out the three pokemon that had battled for him to give them potions and congratulatory pets and scratches.

None of them really looked that much worse for wear. Dart looked exhausted but uninjured, and Franz and Rebecca both had light scratches that didn't look like they really needed medical attention. As Julia approached him, Dart slithered slightly closer to her so she could rest her hand on his crown. A happy rumble came from deep in the sea serpent's throat. If she didn't know better, she might have said he was purring.

"Why'd you call them back?" she asked as she pet the docile Gyarados, "Dart and Rebecca I mean. You pulled them back while they could still battle."

The Unovan heaved a sigh as he stroked his Grovyle's head leaf. "Dart hasn't fully adjusted to the amount of energy it takes him to use dragon rage, and using it so often with so little time between them leaves him tuckered out. He wouldn't have been able to hit Salazar no matter how bad he wanted it." He paused for a moment as Franz bumped his leg to demand pets, to which he complied, "And I pulled Rebecca back because she was losing her cool with fury cutter, and I didn't want her to kill Salazar. Brendan is being an ass, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let one of his pokemon get killed even if I would have won the battle faster and easier if I didn't have to send in Franz."

* * *

Keith was feeling good about the big tourney coming up at the battle tent. He and Rebecca had been competing in the smaller daily events leading up to it, and he had been rolling people. His tank of a Munchlax hadn't been knocked out in any of the events, except when he decided it was time to look for a snack and DQ'd himself by going out of bounds. Skittles and Mimi had done well cleaning up the messes that Boss left though, so it was all good.

Even better, winning the events had given him a full wallet and restocked supplies for when he inevitably set out again. Thinking about it made his stomach uncomfortable. He was going to set out again at some point, no matter how happy he was with Rebecca. Something was going to pull him away and he'd go with the current. Like always.

So he didn't think about it. Instead he just kept battling and enjoying his time, pointedly not thinking about how she'd be going back to Slateport soon and he didn't really have a way or excuse to stay with her. He didn't have the money to stop adventuring and didn't really have a way to make that money in Slateport. Not thinking about it.

After he won the single trainer double-battle event of the day, they went to the best bar in Verdanturf: the Pi Bar, where the desserts were irrationally good. He smiled and nodded through the conversation as he dealt with Boss constantly reaching from his lap to try and get his grubby hands on his trainer's pie. As though Keith would let him. He'd already bought the little glutton two mini pies to share with Mimi, but the bugger wanted his pie.

Once they were back in the hotel room, Keith stared at the ceiling with Rebecca curled into his side. He made a choice back in the museum in Slateport and affected the people around him and himself. It felt like he was going to have to make a choice again soon, and he didn't like it.

When his 'nav buzzed, Keith ignored it. When it buzzed again, Keith realized he was being a dummy for no reason. Traveling and Rebecca weren't mutually exclusive. He would be able to maintain contact with her no matter where he was in the region through the magic of the telephone. Videophone when he was at a center.

Sure, he'd miss being able to be physically close to her like they were now, but it also meant he didn't need to be afraid of being pulled away by circumstance.

* * *

Luke didn't know what he was talking about and had no reason to be upset with him. They were adults and Luke had no actual control over them.

And more than those, he didn't need the constant condescension that the older trainer always brought with him. The Unovan didn't always need to voice his criticisms for Brendan to feel them either. Just the constant air of superiority and his belief that whatever way he did things was the objectively correct way.

Why is Brendan's battling style poor according to the other trainer? Because it wasn't Luke's style. Training style? Not Luke's. The way he packed his bag? Daily routine and schedule? By the mount and waves, his _diet_? Bad because they were different from the way Luke did things. The couple weeks the group had spent away from the Unovan were the freest he'd felt since Petalburg Woods.

Despite that, Brendan couldn't try and say Luke was a bad trainer. He had incredible skill in raising and preparing pokemon for his team, and always played to each of his individual pokemon's strengths. Physically the older trainer was faster and stronger than him too, dedicated and hard-working to advance toward his goal.

The battle they'd had earlier that day confirmed those thoughts. Dart probably could have soloed all three of Brendan's pokemon on his own, Rebecca would have won against Salazar if he hadn't pulled her back for some reason, and even Franz had overwhelmed and beaten his own strongest pokemon.

Luke was trying to reinforce that Brendan, May, and Julia needed to stay with him so he could protect them. It only reinforced that the older man was far stronger than he'd let on, and there was a reason he thought so highly of himself. He wasn't just some trainer from Unova who happened to come to Hoenn. He'd been granted a challenge against the Elite 4, possibly even the champion.

Granted, he got sad whenever it was brought up so some if not all of his team probably got killed in the challenge. But he'd trained a team strong enough to beat the gyms and done well enough in the tournament to challenge the 4 on his first run. He wasn't just another trainer he was a prodigy.

But that was all Luke. Brendan had his own dream and he couldn't do that if Luke was holding him down and back. He'd learned all that he could from the older trainer. It was time to apply aspects of Luke's to training methods that better fit him and his team.

May had come up to him when he was waiting for his team to be finished healing and voiced concern about the battle between them. He'd explained his plan, and she agreed, although slower than he would have liked. "What about Julia?" she had asked him, and he didn't really know how he was supposed to respond to that.

He never had really considered that Julia would opt to stay with the Unovan over coming with her brother. Which was his fault, she'd done everything short of admit to May and Brendan that she liked Luke, he should have seen it coming. Even tonight, she'd stayed behind with the other trainer for nearly an hour before coming back to the suite. When he mentioned his idea to her, she brushed it off and insisted that she was tired instead of giving him an actual answer. Which was all the answer he needed.

His gym battle was only a couple days away. Two before Julia's, and at least a week before Luke's. Probably closer to a week and a half. Plenty of time to get some distance between himself and the older trainers.

Brendan didn't actually have anything against the older trainer. Well, anything other than being fed up with his attitude. But he needed to find his strength and grow at a greater pace than what Luke was teaching at if he wanted to best the other trainer the next time they battled.

And to do that, he needed to leave him behind.

* * *

The next day, Luke went to the gym for his and Wally's training session. He was surprised to see Wally's uncle and Julia there in addition to the petite boy. Oh boy.

Wally was the first to move, dashing towards Luke but stopping just short of running into and embracing the older boy. "Can we skip training today? My uncle was going to take me and Julia to see the Battle Tent tournament in Verdanturf today!"

"Verdanturf is a couple days hike away right? How are you going to get there and back?" Luke asked with a frown. He wasn't against the idea per se, but he wasn't sure how they'd get there and back in one day. "Your battle with Wattson is only a couple days off Wally."

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that," his uncle said, stepping toward Luke and waving an arm in the general direction of behind the gym, "I have aerial transport pokemon to take us back and forth, it shouldn't be longer than an hour flight each way."

Luke saw Julia tense when the man mentioned they were going by air. The memory of her anxiety over falling in a _dream_ came to mind, and her vocal dislike of heights. So she didn't know about the flying until now either.

Instead of bringing up the rookie's near deathly fear of heights, the Unovan smiled. "Well, is there room for a fourth?"

* * *

As it happened, there was room for a fourth, two humans on each pokemon. The one Wally and his uncle rode on was familiar enough to Luke that it scared him at first. Rather, its smell scared him. The light stench of carrion wafting from the dark-flying pokemon's feathers and the rough throaty squaks before he even saw it. Why did Wally's uncle have a Mandibuzz as a transport pokemon?

Seeing one again gave Luke's stomach a reason to try and empty its contents, but Luke held it in and asked to ride the bird with cotton ball wings and blue scales instead. The older man agreed, stating that the Altaria was a gentler flier and the less experienced riders should ride on her. The Unovan opted not to say just how many times he'd flown to make sure he wouldn't have to ride the Mandibuzz.

Julia decided to ride in front of him for the first few minutes before they had to bring what was apparently a dragon-type to land so she could eject the contents of her stomach on the ground.

"I can't stand the wind blasting my face. And it's so cold up there, maybe we should just call it off and walk back to Mauville?"

"We can if you really want too," he said, patting the Altaria's head, "do you want to try riding with me in front? And for the cold you can wear my jacket, it's in my bag. You'd be warmer, the wind wouldn't be in your face, and you'd be able to close your eyes without worrying about guiding this one along."

Julia's face had been unsure, but she accepted, pulling his jacket on over her vest and climbing on the pokemon behind him as he slid his sunglasses on and had the dual-type start to climb into the air. His friend's grip around his waist grew tighter the higher they went and slid up until her arms were just beneath his ribs. The death grip made it marginally harder to breathe, but she definitely had it worse.

He could feel her breathes on his left shoulder blade, her head pressed tight against his back, which meant her back was scrunched to make sure she could maintain her death grip and use his torso as a shield from the wind. Luke couldn't say for sure, but her was pretty sure her eyes were screwed shut.

Once they landed in Verdanturf and Julia finally released her grip on him, Luke realized how tightly she'd squeezed him. His lungs were begging for the first full breath he'd been able to take in an hour, and his ribs were aching from the pressure they'd been under. It reminded him of the first few times he'd flown fast with Syd, except the Unovan girl hadn't squeezed quite as hard. Come to think of it, she probably hadn't been physically able too grip that hard, Julia seemed athletic before she started his abridged exercise schedule and Syd wasn't exactly a paragon of physical might.

As Wally's uncle paid for their admission to the event and Wally pulled Julia by the hand towards the stands, the image of a musclebound Sydney crossed his mind, and he couldn't stop himself from a snort of laughter.

When he made his way to their seats, he sat down next to Julia. "And now, in the first battle of round two, we have a clash of titans!" the announcer shouted into his microphone. Luke understood the role the man was playing, hyping up the match and everything was important, but he didn't really care for it. It was a battle, not a theatre production.

"In the red corner, the last winner of the no-commands tourney, Jacob Ashter!" The announcement received cheers from around the tent, but not as many as the Unovan would expect for the reigning champion. "And in the blue corner, a man who came out of nowhere to surprise us all! He hasn't lost an event yet, give it up for the newest Tent Tyrant of Verdanturf, Keith Anzetun!"

* * *

**As always, thanks for reading! If you like the story, be sure to favorite, follow, PM me, or review! Especially reviews, they're most appreciated.**

**I hope everyone is staying safe as we move back toward reopening everything from COVID. Stay safe, don't get sick.**

**As a different side note, especially since Keith has now been introduced. Keith is based on one of my friends here in the real world. A tall, bulky black man that, because of the system having been poisoned against him from the beginning. Small as my platform may be, I think it would be remiss of me to not mention the widespread police brutality against people of color in the country I live in, the USA. It's bad. The number of times I've been stopped while walking late at night by myself, as is my habit? Zero. The number of times it's happened while I've been walking with him? Four. And that is not OK. We need actual police reform and actual change in the way we view each other.**

**Peace, stay safe, DragonSaurus12.**


	23. Chapter 23

**So, uh, I did it again. That whole making everyone wait because I had most of it written but couldn't motivate myself to finish the last little bit. It happened again. Sorry.**

**That being said, updating every month or every two months is probably going to be more the style to expect moving forward. Just not as motivated to write at the moment. Who knows though, that could change at the drop of a hat.**

**ALSO: I came up with a little game for us all to play. I've been listening to all the pokemon theme/opening songs lately and have assigned each one of my main characters (Luke, Julia, Brendan, May, and Keith) their own theme. It is your job to guess what each character's theme is, excluding any region-specific references. Whoever guesses all, or the most, correct will get to read chapters early via some way that I'll figure out. Responses can be left in the form of a review or PM! Happy guessing!**

**Oh, also, enjoy the chapter. Please.**

* * *

The so-called Tent Tyrant seemed like he at least deserved his title, Luke reasoned. Rather, he was successful enough in the event even against what seemed like more powerful pokemon and teams that the title had validity.

For the life of him though, Luke couldn't figure out why this kind of event drew a crowd like a high-tier gym battle. Not an eighth or ninth tier battle, sure, and definitely not the league tournament or an attempt at an Elite 4 gauntlet, but the tent was almost full to the brim with spectators watching niche pokemon battles.

Which was something else he didn't understand. The appeal of this battle type. Or at least why the non-ability of the trainer to issue commands was as big of a hinderance as it apparently was. The Unovan had found that most commands slowed a pokemon down in a fight, and would cause them to rely on the reaction and command from their trainer instead of their own reflexes and instinct.

Battles were won before either trainer set foot on the field. Better conditioning, training, and instruction days, months, or years before the battle starts determined who the winner would be. Something unprecedented, or simply unexpected, being overcome simply shows better mindset and adaptability, something that comes from experience and making open and adaptive strategies.

In short, this was just a contest to see who trained their pokemon better, like almost all battles are. Taking away one tiny aspect of the battle wasn't that big of a deal. If anything, it was a training exercise to tweak and hone your team's reactions to certain matchups.

As the "Tyrant's" Munchlax knocked yet another opposing pokemon into the ground before waddling back to its trainer to demand snacks to the roar of applause of the assembled spectators, Luke realized he was probably just thinking too hard about it. There wasn't the same sports culture here as there was back in Unova, this was probably the closest these people got to sporting events, with the players personalities substituted with the personalities of pokemon and their interactions with their trainers. He was thinking about it too much as a battler instead of a fan.

The same couldn't be said for Wally or his uncle, clapping and cheering with the energy of all the rest of the crowd. Or for Julia, whose smile was only occasionally broken by a small frown when a flying type was summoned to fight only to brighten up within moments.

Then the Tyrant summoned a pokemon Luke had never expected to see here in Hoenn.

* * *

Boss had finally gotten tired enough to justify switching the Munchlax out so he wouldn't have to keep explaining to him that mid-battle snacks were classified as cheating.

Keith didn't have to think about who to use next, as one hand plucked a pokeball from his belt as the other brought his water bottle to his lips. Blake could handle whatever his opponent could dish out.

The water type emerged from his premier ball, landing in a crouch in front of Keith, paws already placed on his scalchops. The blue sea otter stood to his full height before pulling his weapons of choice from his hips and dropping into a ready stance, a thing current of water already running over the edge of the weapons.

As the barely a meter-tall otter took off, Keith thought about how fair it really was to use a pokemon none of the other trainers would have expected him to have in a competition like this. But it wasn't like they didn't know what pokemon it was: the Oshawott line was an endangered species even in its native Unova region, and was the subject of a lot of environmental ads. So really, it wasn't on him for bringing a rare pokemon that they didn't expect. It was on them for not being ready for it.

Not dissimilar to how Blake's opponent, a Swellow, was not ready at all for the Dewott's speed, or to have a scalchop bounced off the ground to collide with its beak.

Keith knew it was a wrap once Blake closed in on the stunned bird, and the other trainer did too, returning his bird and approaching for a handshake. Keith was relieved, really. The end of the battle meant he could go get lunch. Rebecca was back in the warm-up room getting ready for her next bout though, so the Sinnosian resigned himself to eating with just his pokemon. Until a ball of green hair and excess energy appeared in front of him. A small ball that moved very fast.

The ball, which was a petite boy with light green hair now that Keith got the chance to really look at him, was talking incredibly fast. Some things about how cool his pokemon were and how great his battle was, the tall man was sure. So he smiled, nodded, and tried to move toward the line for one of the food stalls. He could deal with fans when he wasn't so hungry.

That's when he noticed the ones trailing behind the green boy, an older boy in a baseball cap and blue vest and a girl in an orange vest and athletic shorts, both with brown hair, although the boy's was noticeably darker. He wasn't sure what about the boy made him uncomfortable, but something was off about him. Something in the back of Keith's mind was telling him to reach for Boss or Mimi's pokeball.

With a start, Keith realized that he was being intimidated by something about the much shorter man, probably by 30 cm or so if he had to hazard a guess. It wasn't his build, Keith had no doubts he was more physically powerful than the stranger, and it wasn't the way the man carried himself, although Keith could tell the apparent relaxation was forced. It was his eyes. They were a cold blue, incredibly tense and almost unreflective.

By contrast, the girl seemed entirely at ease. Warm grey eyes with an easy smile on her face as they came up behind the green ball- boy, green haired boy.

When the pair reached the boy, the one with cold eyes placed his left hand on the boy's shoulder before extending his right towards Keith.

"My name's Luke Williams," he said, the tension not fading from his eyes, "and I've got to say, I never expected to see a Dewott outside of Unova." The eyes warmed the smallest bit as he turned to the petite boy, who was about 50 cm shorter than Keith by his eye-check. "I'm sorry about Wally though, he can be a bit much when something gets him excited. Buy the soon-to-be champ dinner?"

Keith wasn't sure what angle the man was trying to play, but if it got him free food he'd play along. For now. Keith shook the offered hand and steered them towards a Sinnosian food stall.

The ball of energy, Wally, continued speaking. Keith did his best to pay attention, really, he did, but he was talking so fast in a Hoenn accent just different enough from Rebecca's that the syllables blended together. At least when the cold one spoke, he went slow enough for Keith to catch everything he said.

It wasn't until she ordered that he caught the girl's name, Julia. Luke and Julia, maybe they were dating, and Wally was a little brother to one of them? Or all just friends? Context clues would probably tell once they started eating.

"So," Luke said, watching someone's food get made on the hot stones behind the counter, vegetables and meats together, "where did you get that Dewott? I haven't seen one since my circuit run back home in Unova."

Ah, he was Unovan. That explained why he qualified it with 'outside of Unova' earlier. And why he was a bit easier to understand, Indigan wasn't his primary language either. This is where Keith wished he could speak Unovan/Galarian to flex, but he had never bothered learning.

"Blake? I got him from a trade at the GTS in Jubilife City in Sinnoh. His old trainer couldn't handle his rebellious streak. Or that he'd accidentally let him swim in a river that had traces of Eviolite and Everstone," Keith explained, motioning toward Blake's ball as Julia's name was called, "It took him nearly twice as long to evolve into a Dewott, and is probably never going to evolve into a Samurott."

"That's too bad," Julia said as she returned with her platter of food, "Someone traded him just because he couldn't fully evolve?" Wally's number was called as the four made their way to a table.

"He's also a dick, don't forget that." Keith said, eyes fixed on the server who would call his name for food. "But he can't be as much of one on my team, not where he knows Boss can take him."

Luke hummed in agreement as his name was called, quickly moving to get his food and back. Keith was the only one without food, even though he'd ordered first. Darn.

"I had a pokemon like that on my old team," Luke said as he broke his chopsticks apart, "except knowing another pokemon was stronger than her didn't exactly stop her from acting like she was the best thing to happen to the world. Just pissed her off whenever it came up."

Keith had stopped listening when his name was called. He had food to eat. When he got back, Luke and Julia were staring at his plate as Wally was taking measured bites of his own meal. He'd gotten a meal for himself, a few sweet berries for Mimi, a kid's meal for Boss, and some fish for Blake. The Unovan had offered to pay for his food, he might as well milk the free food for as much as he could. "You offered." Keith stated, trying to get them to stop staring at his plate.

The laugh that bubbled out of Luke surprised the Sinnosian. Because it came out of nowhere, and more so because it seemed genuine. Maybe all he needed to do was crack the ice in his eyes and Luke would become a real boy too.

As they ate, Keith kept his eyes up, both on his team and the strangers whose company he was in. Luke seemed to be doing the same, eyes flicking between Keith, his team, and every so often at Julia and Wally. Wally had eyes only for his food and Keith's pokemon. Julia kept looking at Luke in a way that told him they definitely weren't siblings. At least, Keith sure hoped they weren't.

He was only about half-way done with his meal when his 'nav buzzed.

Rebecca: Won my match! Wanna meet up before our next round, 45 min?

Rebecca: Let our teams run around, relax, get comfy

Rebecca: Grab some food?

The first one would have done it. Come to think of it, the second would too given who sent it. But the third one really caught his attention. After texting back a quick affirmation, he stood up and picked up his food on the disposable tray it was served on.

"It was nice meeting you guys," he said, "but I need to go meet up with my girlfriend now, she just finished her match. Bye."

"Hey, before you go, are you doing the gym circuit, and have you fought Wattson yet?" Luke asked as Keith started recalling his team, "Because I'm getting ready to, and could use a fresh training partner for the last couple days before my prelim match."

Keith paused. Someone new to train against would be good, especially if he was going to continue around the region without Rebecca. So he shrugged, and wrote his 'nav code down on a napkin before handing it to Luke. "I wouldn't mind. If you're being serious, go ahead and call me. I tend to ignore texts from numbers I don't know."

Then, the Sinnosian did walk away. Food in one hand, Boss' pokeball in the other. It was time to hang out with Rebecca and get even more food. He would have patted his stomach in anticipation, but his hands were full already.

* * *

Keith did not disappoint Luke's expectations in either of his final two matches, and although he'd already keyed the other man's number into his 'nav, he wasn't going to call him quite yet. He still had a flight back to Mauville getting the breath squeezed out of him by Julia ahead, and he wasn't really looking forward to that. She was stronger than she looked and her relatively slim body implied.

Wally's uncle had offered for them to stay at their home in Verdanturf for the night, but the teens had refused. Thankfully, he lent them the Altaria again instead of the Mandibuzz for the ride back.

Before they got on the dragon-type, Luke handed his jacket to Julia, which she quickly shrugged into. It was odd seeing her wear it, and he appreciated it in a different way now under the streetlight than under that morning's sun.

It seemed to actually fit her in a way it did with nobody else. Besides him of course. Her shoulders were narrower than his own, and her arms thinner, but still, the jacket fit her well enough that his stomach wanted to knot. He knew it was a petty and childish thought, but she shouldn't fit so well in his jacket. Next thing he knew she might steal it and start taking his other clothes too.

Luke turned his head toward the stars and rubbed his eyes. Flying when he was tired enough that his thoughts were wandering this far was probably a bad idea. But he didn't want to impose on Wally's family, especially after saying they would fly back tonight, and he definitely did want to be back with his pack and gear, in the little room he recognized and had become familiar with. Nightmares were more likely in places he hadn't slept before, and nobody needed to see that, especially not Julia and Wally.

"Luke," Julia called his attention back down from the constellations he didn't recognize and onto her face, "are you ready?"

She was scared. Out of her mind by what she was showing on the surface. Shallow breathing, breaking out in a sweat, pupils dilating although that could be from the low-light.

"'Course I am," he said, putting his smile back on as he stroked the Altaria's head scales, "how about you? Think you can handle flying again?" His question sounded like banter, but he hoped she could hear the concern behind it.

After she nodded, he climbed on the dragon's back. A moment later, she was behind him, pressed snugly against his back, arms snaking around his midsection to pull the two even closer together. Then her head on his shoulder.

Luke took a deep breath, making sure his chest could still expand despite the pressure Julia was putting on his chest. It worked some. It felt a bit looser than it had in the morning? Maybe? Hopefully he'd be able to breathe comfortably the entire trip.

Just like before, her grip got tighter the higher they went until they leveled out at the Altaria's cruising altitude. And it wasn't just the chilly he'd been expecting, it was actually cold at that height without the sun warming him. The fluffy down of the dragon below them, however, was warm with what he assumed was stored heat, or a small fire attack being held in its body to keep the reptile warm. Either way, he was thankful to be able to lean forward into it.

After a couple minutes, he realized the problem with it. The more he leaned forward, the more the wind struck Julia, regardless of how close she pressed herself against his back. Once he could feel her body shaking against him, he knew he needed to rethink how they were positioned, so he guided the dragon back to solid land.

"Why'd we stop?" Julia asked as he checked the clock on his 'nav, "Are we close?"

"No," Luke sighed, they hadn't even been in the air for fifteen minutes, "but the way we were sitting wasn't working. Too cold, too much wind." Before she could protest, he added, "I could feel how much you were shaking, so don't try to argue it. And don't worry, I was cold too."

Eventually, the teens got situated on the dragon's back again, although this time, Julia was in front facing back, lying against the dragon's down. Luke leaned over her, practically pressed together as he tried to keep as close to the warm, reptilian body as he could. Julia's arms, again, wrapped around him and pulled him close to block the wind as he pinned her to the pokemon's back.

It wasn't comfortable by any means. The cold wind cut at his face whenever he looked up for a micro-correction of the Altaria and cut at his back when he leaned back down. Julia wasn't faring as well, judging by the quiet sobs being taken away by the wind he could only hear when he was horizontal.

Luke was glad when it was over, when he was able to walk Julia to her room before crossing the building to get to his own. When he finally crawled into bed.

His last thought before falling asleep was that he never had gotten his jacket back.

* * *

Luke stood across the pitch from the other trainer, hands resting on pokeballs. He had the advantage of information, having seen most of his opponent's team in action. With that information, he gained confidence. His pokemon were plenty powerful enough to deal with what he'd seen, at the very least. And if they were closer in strength than he thought, he was confident in the training he'd given to his team.

Rebecca, Franz, Dart, Amelia, and Sain. All five stood ready in their capsules. A signal unseen, but understood, had both humans summoning pokemon.

Franz tore forth from the flash of light, knowing to break off to the side in anticipation of an immediate attack. That training spared him a kick from the bunny that Keith had summoned.

It wasn't the first sparring session the two trainers had since Keith arrived in Mauville, but it had been fewer than ten so far. The Sinnosian had adjusted well to Luke's team and habits in such a short time, but the now sunburnt Unovan hadn't lost a match yet.

He knew he should probably be at Brendan's gym battle, but the kid seemed like he needed space. Besides, he knew how electric gyms worked around third and fourth tier battles. He'd beaten Elesa back in Unova for his fourth badge, and he'd watched plenty of Lt. Surge's battles before he'd even wanted to be a trainer. Something about his title of "The Lightning Unovan" had always stuck out to Luke.

So there was no real need to study Wattson, and his presence would likely make Brendan uncomfortable or angry, neither of which he should be going into a fight. Which left training with Keith to be the best place Luke could be.

Franz finally landed a hit, intercepting a jump kick with a bite that would have shattered bones if he wasn't holding back. Luke rubbed the scar on his arm absentmindedly.

On that note, Luke withdrew Franz and pointed skywards as the first few drops of rain fell from the dark sky. It poured five days of each week and tended to drizzle or shower on the remaining two. Once again, Luke thanked the fire and storm that it hadn't poured on him and Julia while they'd flown to or from Verdanturf. He shot Julia a message as they left the training plot.

The two trainers quickly made their way to a cheap restaurant that they'd eaten at after each session, ordered food, and sat down, both immediately checking their 'navs.

LW: Just finished a session with Keith, hows BC's match going?

JC: Just started, seems to be doing well though

JC: He's up a full ko now, Raph took down an Electrike

JC: FUCK

JC: FUCKING

LW: ?

She stopped responding, so Luke put his 'nav down. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach, but if she wasn't going to tell him right now, he didn't need to worry about it yet.

"Girlfriend stop messaging you?" Keith asked as he continued typing away, "Don't worry, not everyone can have someone as good as Rebecca. It's impossible, I've done the math. Trust me."

Luke snorted as he took a sip from his water bottle. "First off, not my girlfriend. Hasn't changed since the first or last time you made that joke. Second, yes, Julia stopped messaging. Third, I believe you. She has to be better than at least one of my exes, which means, mathematically speaking, at least one person is getting screwed."

"You're assuming a one to one ratio," Keith said as his burger was placed in front of him, "but since it means I'm right, I'll let it slide."

"Sure." Luke said as he started digging into the Kalosian fries, Keith finally putting down his 'nav to eat. Luke's device buzzed again, but he ignored it first.

He checked it after it buzzed again.

JC: Wattson made his Voltorb selfdestruct

JC: Brendan's Torkoal died

JC: Dustox killed by Manectric

* * *

**So, that was 23. Don't forget to take part in the theme song challenge/game, and don't forget to leave a review if you enjoyed reading.**

**Peace, stay safe.**


	24. Chapter 24

**So, apologies in advance. I played fast and loose with time here, and at least in the first half to three quarters of the chapter you probably won't know when we are. This is my fault, but it is this way for two reasons. I couldn't motivate myself enough to actually properly order it, I'm not entirely sure how to do so given how I wanted the chapter to end, and we stay un-beta read.**

**What's that? That was more than two reasons? Quiet you, I'm a musician, I never learned to count past four.**

**_IRONY_**

**Jokes aside, there is a real reason it's sloppy, read the bottom AN to find out why I'm an ass this time.**

**Regardless, I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Brendan was livid as he tore out of Mauville, May close behind him and Salazar and Usopp the only pokemon still at his hip. Raph and Peris left behind in the morgue at Wattson's gym.

They'd made some good headway, and as far as he knew Julia and Luke had no idea they'd left yet. He was concerned that they'd come storming after him in worry for his health and safety, but that was exactly why he needed to get away in the first place.

Pokemon needed to battle and overcome stronger and stronger opponents to grow stronger. People weren't so much different. They needed to get past adversity to grow and mature. Which meant that his growth would be stunted if he kept getting coddled by Luke. Like an oak tree taking all the nutrients from the soil. Other plants could grow around it, but none could be as great.

* * *

It only took a week for the two of them to reach the base of Mt. Chimney, where Brendan made what he decided was his first real catch, a Slugma he named Choji. It was hard not thinking of Raph whenever he gave the fire-slug a command, but he would push through. He wasn't going to forget about his first fire-type, but thinking about him when he had still living team members wouldn't be doing either of them any good.

He and May had started sleeping in the same tent again for the first time since they'd gone ahead of the older pair after beating Roxanne. No older teens, nobody to tease their awkward first steps in their relationship.

Besides, this way they only had to set up May's slightly larger tent, which meant less time getting drenched by the rain that never seemed to go away. Less time in the rain, more time to huddle with his best friend watching movies on her phone? Well, sometimes it was his phone, but either way, it was an absolute win.

Even when he was training, she'd be nearby. Watching from the shade when it was sunny or more often from under a tree when it was raining, if he was exercising, or within arm's length if he was just instructing his team. Either way, knowing she was there made him feel better as he trained. Trained so that none of his pokemon would ever have to face the same fate as Raph and Peris.

Usopp had evolved, frail body becoming a veritable tank of muscle and feathers, wings that could redirect the wind for short periods of time to keep the rain off of his trainer and his trainer's friend. The pelican's diet, similar to his power, had also skyrocketed since his evolution, needing more frequent breaks from training to hunt.

Salazar continued his growth, moving faster and striking harder. Despite his teammate's evolution, he was still by far the fastest and strongest member of Brendan's team. He often defeated the wild pokemon they encountered before they had a chance to retaliate, and the sparring matches with his party-mates were short and often resulted in victories that didn't see him damaged at all.

Choji hadn't been getting trained for long enough to show much progress, but he showed potential. The slug responded to commands well, and executed each one swiftly once he understood what the trainer meant. Which was the one problem Brendan had with the Slugma. He was slow to pick up on what his words meant. The upside was that once he did, he remembered without fault.

At least, that's what the teenager noticed while they were waiting for the sandstorm to clear so they could cross the desert to reach Fallarbor, where Professor Birch asked May to meet with his associate Lanette. Brendan would have preferred going directly to Lavaridge for his fourth badge, but the extra training wouldn't hurt. If anything, it would just reduce the time they would spend in the other city.

All in all, despite what happened back in Mauville, things were going well.

* * *

Julia threw herself into training once Luke convinced her not to go after her runaway brother. He told her she had a battle to prepare for, and he was right. A battle against the man who killed her brother's pokemon. Then the stupid, handsome idiot left her with his new friend Keith and vanished. She assumed it was to do some more solo training.

Regardless, she was pissed, and she channeled all of that into training, constantly throwing her pokemon at Keith's team in the three days since Brendan and May had left. As always, Oliver was doing the best, the rock of her team. The strongest, most durable, a verifiable tank of a creature. She loved her aggressive little mudfish.

Oliver was also the only one to really have a leg up on Keith's pokemon. He was strong enough to keep pace with Boss, the older trainer's Muchlax, but fast enough to land more hits than the normal type. Her water-ground type could stomach any of the faster hits from either the man's Buneary or Dewott and dish more back. Her other pokemon weren't keeping up quite so well.

Kord just wasn't mobile enough to dodge hits, or fast enough to land any consequential ones of his own. Zatanna was plenty fast enough, and able to adeptly teleport around the field, but she wasn't quite able to put out enough power to knock any of them down for the count.

Until she started glowing.

Once she evolved into a Kadabra, the psychic fox was putting out more than enough power to knock other pokmeon out, telekinetic blasts that could slam her opponents into the ground or the subtle psychic waves that distorted the other pokemon's senses. She was still incredibly frail though: any physical attack had the chance of dealing critical damage and knocking her out of the fight.

Thoughts of her training flashed through her head as she walked through the tunnel onto Wattson's battle pitch. Keith had talked her through the last minute battle-prep, but now all she could see was the Voltorb detonating on top of Brendan's Torkoal.

The thought sent waves through her stomach, her light lunch threatening to boil over. Until her hands fell on Oliver and Zatanna's pokeballs. The cool metal under her hands centered her. Oliver wasn't quite immune to electricity, but it was darn close. Keith wasn't sure how it worked, and Luke just said something about how it was probably a special insulating membrane in his skin before he'd rushed off.

It was technically a three on three match, but Julia didn't want to risk Kord, and Selena was far from being a battling pokemon. Storm, Keith was probably playing with the kitten in the stands right now.

She walked forward, onto the pitch, and shook Wattson's hand, but she didn't say anything. To her remembrance, Julia didn't emote at all. At least, she tried not to. She couldn't remember if she succeeded, just that she was trying.

Oliver came out first, before Wattson's ball had left his hand. His battle cry sounded as the Voltorb emerged on the gym leader's side.

* * *

It wasn't hard to figure out that Brendan and May had left. It _was_ hard to track them down in the forest north of Mauville because of the rain, although the two canines on his team made it significantly easier.

He caught up to them on the first day, staying out of sight with Franz and Rebecca nearby. Brendan was noticeably upset, but not in a dangerous way. The younger boy appeared driven, hiking faster and, at least in the one training session Luke had watched on, training harder with his two remaining pokemon.

Fears assuaged but not erased, the cold boy doubled back to Mauville to prepare for Wattson. If the gym leader was ready and willing to command his pokemon to self-destruct in a third-tier battle? He needed to be ready for that. For anything really. Which meant studying and planning.

* * *

When he arrived back in Mauville, Luke immediately went to the gym, into the spectator stands, as close to the field as he could manage. The electric-type trainer had eight matches set for the day: four first-tier, two third, a fourth, and one sixth. The only ones that really interested him were the thirds and sixth. The firsts wouldn't give any information beyond which evolutionary lines he preferred, and the fourth would provide similar information to the third, but different enough that he didn't want his plans swayed by it.

Sixth tier, on the other hand, would just give more information about Wattson. Longer battle, stronger trainers, and better trained pokemon. More information, more insight.

As he took a small notepad and pen from his hip-pack, the Unovan paused for a second. _Why_ was he doing this? He was upset that Wattson commanded one of his Voltorb to detonate and kill one of Brendan's, and that one of his other pokemon killed another of Brendan's. But it felt like more than that.

With a frown, Luke thought of Shigure. The little Taillow that had been fast and energetic, that liked flying circles around their group when they would hike. He thought of Thea and Zander in the Celestial Tower, and the teammates that didn't get to have a burial.

He started writing.

* * *

Oliver had always been attuned to Julia's moods, if more aggressive. At least, it seemed that way to the human. Maybe that was just recency bias since she'd been upset and aggressive lately though.

It had taken a while, but Oliver managed to grab onto one of the Manectric's hind legs. A grim satisfaction filled her when the mudfish hoisted the canine over his head and brought it down hard. She couldn't stop the flinch from the dog's ribs and/or leg snapping. That didn't stop her from letting Oliver do it again, before Wattson could recall his pokemon.

The smile on the man's face was infuriating, as though he was happy his pokemon had been beaten nearly to death. Happy to have lost.

When she went forward to claim her badge, Wattson pressed it firmly into her hand. "I saw what you did to Roxanne and Brawly with that squirt of yours," he said as he placed a hand on Julia's shoulder, which she was quick to shake off, "he's got a spark in him, a real fighter. Next gym for you is either flying or fire right? Teach the fish to throw rocks and he might be able to solo either of them too. I'm assuming you're saving your old man for last, and you definitely won't be able to sweep him.

"That's none of your business," Julia said as she turned away from him, "and maybe I am, maybe he's next, it doesn't matter to you."

"If it's what I did to your brother's pokemon, I already got an earful from Norman," he said to Julia's retreating back, "but he needed a kick in the rear, show him he isn't anything special yet. Nobody is at their third badge."

Julia didn't respond, walking away with the dynamo badge clutched so tightly in her fist it hurt.

* * *

Luke watched Julia's battle, saw Oliver fight with his trainer's barely hidden pain and anger. Saw the mudfish sweep through the opposition of a Magnemite, Voltorb, and Manectric. He wrote every decision the leader made down, recorded it for later study.

He'd congratulated Julia and took her and Keith to dinner, despite his hand itching to thumb through his notes. The thing that really stopped him wasn't even the friends in front of him, but knowing that everything that happened in her battle was moot for him.

Luke didn't have an electrical resistant tank to hold the fort down for him and sweep Wattson's team. Dart was far larger and physically more powerful, but the smallest shock could spell death and danger for the Gyarados. Rebecca could resist electrical attacks, but didn't have the bulk to take too many, especially if they varied physical and special like it seemed Wattson liked to do between sparks, shockwaves, and rollouts. Franz and Amelia could take a hit or two and dish plenty back, but neither had the super effective ground moves or raw bulk that Oliver had. Sain had less training than any of the others, although he was coming along well.

So instead, he listened to them talk. Well, he listened to Julia. Keith was busy consuming all those calories he needed to keep his muscle mass so freaking high.

He nodded when he needed to, chimed in on a couple subjects, and did his best to smile through it.

It didn't really hit him until he was back in his room, in the building across the street from the suite Julia was currently occupying alone that he'd slipped back into old habits. Selfishly hiding away from friends and focusing entirely on his own advancement. Granted, it wasn't entirely comparable.

When he did it before, it was with B, CH, Bel, and Syd. Technically Dubs too, but they weren't entirely on speaking terms when he did it before. Regardless, the people he'd known for less than a year didn't really compare to his lifelong friends and Sydney.

A dickish way to think about it? Sure. But Luke felt like being a realist for the moment. He just didn't have the connection with them the way he did with his friends back in Unova.

Yet, funnily enough, he had a better relationship with Julia, Brendan, and May than he did with most people in his own family. Definitely his older brother and sister, and definitely his parents. Younger brother was a maybe, younger sister a definite no.

Huh. He was starting to think he might have issues. He should probably talk to someone.

With a sigh, he made his way toward the video phone booth to call Bel, and maybe Dubs.

Was he actually going to talk about his problems or tell them he'd slipped into old habits? Thunder and Snowfire of course not. They didn't need to be burdened down by his issues. But he did need to give Dubs an update on how it was progressing, and he wanted to talk to Bel.

* * *

Julia sat next to Keith as Luke walked out from the tunnel onto the pitch. He'd left his hat and vest in the locker room, standing tall in his boots, jeans, and BW jersey shirt. Five balls clipped onto his belt on the right side of his hip-pack. Even from the distance, she could pick out the different balls. Rebecca's nest ball closest to the front and Luke's hand, his Electrike's great ball next to that, then Franz's plain pokeball, Dart's Lure ball, and Amelia's dusk ball.

It was a fantastic line-up being led by a fantastic trainer, but it didn't really have an answer to electricity beyond simply overpowering them. Which scared her when she thought about what had happened in Luke's match with Brawly and then Brendan's with Wattson. Without an easy answer, his pokemon were in danger.

Luke had been an ass in the few days since he'd come back from training, focused entirely on prepping for his gym battle, but she didn't want his pokemon to get killed or him to get hurt.

"There's more than one way to skin a Glameow you know." Keith said as he tapped her shoulder and motioned to where Luke was about to shake hands with Wattson. "He doesn't have that beastly ground-type like you do, but it isn't like his studying and training has been for nothing. He's got this."

"You say that as though you know what his strategy is." Julia said with a frown. "Mind sharing with the class?"

"Nah. Just faith that after all that studying and training he's got something figured out." Keith said as he leaned forward, placing his chin in his hands. "At least, I really hope he does."

* * *

"Didn't think I'd get to host the Scout at my gym," Wattson said as he shook Luke's hand, "but here we are. I have to say, I've been looking forward to this match ever since I saw your Gyarados tear Brawly a new one."

Luke's blood ran cold as his eyes went wide and feet frozen. "How do you…" he managed to stutter out, eyes fixated on Wattson.

"My good friend Drayden mentioned you to me after you battled him. Just like Surge told me when your brother went and caused trouble for him. Did you think nobody would recognize you just because you're in a different region?"

Frost take him, the old man looked like he was enjoying this. The Unovan schooled his expression, bringing what he was sure was a stupid look of shock into tight frown. He cooled his surprise into anger and focused it on the man standing in front of him.

"If you know who I am," Luke said, "then you know I'm going to win."

Wattson laughed, "I did just tell you Drayden and I are friends, right? He's seen you lose, and I wasn't granted my title for nothing." The old man laughed again as he turned away, "Don't choke on your arrogance kid. I want a good match."

Luke didn't bother replying. He wasn't sure what he would have said and didn't want to say anything incendiary or impulsive. His right-hand kept drifting towards Bastion, Gojira, and Heracles' balls in his pack, but now certainly wasn't the time to use the three pokemon he'd smuggled into the region.

Instead, he rested his hand on Franz's ball, plucking it from his belt to await the referee's announcement.

He didn't have an easy out here like Rebecca against Roxanne or Dart against Brawly. Which meant his strategy boiled down to overpowering and out maneuvering the gym leader and exploiting the habits he'd picked up on watching Wattson's other battles.

Lights flashed as the trainers summoned their pokemon. The living embodiment of a pokeball and the rough and tumble hyena stood across the pitch from each other.

Franz growl was low in his throat as he stared down the emotionless electric type as it gathered static by rolling in place.

Wattson had four key strategies when he used Voltorb. Play keep away with shockwaves as the ball kept out of reach, follow up shockwaves with physical pressure in sparks, and overwhelm the opponent with a rollout that continuously gained speed and power. Or explode.

Franz grew tired of waiting for the trainers to issue commands and rushed forward, little more than a streak of black and grey as he powered through the shockwave attack. He slammed his shoulder into the electric ball hard enough to send it bouncing and rolling away, although it corrected its momentum before it went out of bounds.

The good thing about the ball pokemon's attack strategies were how linear they were. Franz was durable enough to continue powering through the electric waves to close the distance and tackling or biting the ball. Or, if it switched to either physical approach, Franz was fast enough to react, evade, and counter when they were close to colliding.

There wasn't really counter-play to the explosion strategy.

As the ball shot forward, dirt from the battlefield pouring behind it as it started a roll out, Franz puffed out his chest, stood tall, and barked at the ball. When the attack collided, there was a black streak of Franz's oil across the Voltorb's eyes.

Luke smiled. He'd left it up to Franz if he wanted to use the swagger tactic, and the hyena had. And it worked beautifully. Now there was a chance, however slim, that the Voltorb accidentally went out of bounds of its own volition.

"Detonate!" Wattson shouted from across the field, but his pokemon was too busy trying to flatten Franz to care.

The next pass had Franz get hit again, but getting another shoulder-check in as it tried to roll away. Then Franz, bleeding from somewhere on his head, lunged forward and managed to set his teeth into the electric type, and crunched down hard. Franz started shaking it, slamming it into the ground as it's shell started to crack and black drops of blood started spraying from the orb. Wattson recalled his first pokemon, and Luke did the same.

Rebecca was the next out, facing down the Magneton Wattson summoned.

This one was a bit harder to deal with than the linear Voltorb strategy. It preferred long range attacks combined with status afflicting moves, inflicting short term paralysis with thunder wave and disorienting opponents with the sound waves it generated by rubbing its bodies and screws together. Following that was the pressurized blasts of air and the volleys of shockwave attacks.

The steel pokemon moved first, sending blasts of pressurized air that Rebecca nimbly dodged as she closed the distance, the leaves on her arms glowing green as she brought them across her opponent.

This started a chasing game, the Magneton trying to slow Rebecca down as it tried to float away from the much faster Grovyle. Rebecca, for her part, was too busy dodging and playing catch-up to land many meaningful hits.

Wattson's pokemon finally managed to land a blast of pressurized air, the attack cutting a gash across Rebecca's chest as she went sprawling back, scrambling to her feet to dodge the next one even as she held a clawed hand to her chest to stem the flow of her deep purple blood.

"Go." Luke said, looking his pokemon squarely in the eye. She was stronger than her opponent. He knew that. She knew that.

She was scared and had the look of a half feral rage in her eyes as she dropped to all fours to rush he opponent. The bladed leaves on her forearms began to glow again as she rushed in, sidestepping or hopping over jolts of electricity and blasts of air. It was not going to kill her, because she was stronger. Faster. Had a better human.

It was not going to kill her. Because she was going to kill it first.

The screech the magnet pokemon let out when Rebecca's blades tore through one of its bodies made Luke wince and cover his ears as his grass type pulled her other arm back as well. Wattson recalled his pokemon before it fell. A deep scowl was on his face.

Luke scowled right back as Rebecca ran back to him as he sprayed a potion over her wounds before returning her to the nest ball. If Wattson was willing to go for kills, he wasn't going to hold his pokemon back either. Except unlike Brawly, he wasn't going to wait for one of his team to die first.

"You recalled Magneton first," Luke said after Wattson continued to glare at him, "you have to send out your last pokemon first." It didn't really matter who sent their pokemon out first, they'd both made up their mind about what pokemon they would use far before they ever stepped onto the pitch and sent out their pokemon.

Battles weren't won on the pitch, weren't won in the arena, and often not even in the city the battle took place in. Luke won his battles weeks in advance on the training field, in conditioning and strategy.

The Unovan knew that he was better prepared. No matter what Drayden, Elesa, or any other gym leader from back home told Wattson, Luke was better prepared to fight him than he was to fight Luke.

Luke had studied Wattson's battles in person and the recordings on the internet, and he had the pages of notes to prove it. Wattson had heard _gossip_, maybe a recording or two from a year or more ago when Luke was using dramatically different teams than he was now.

Sain erupted from his ball only moments after the opposing Manectric. Sain was bulkier than the other canine, electricity crackling across his blue coat and golden mane.

"Sain," Luke said as the two electric types stared each other down, "you're stronger than them." His electric hound's eyes never left his opponent. "And they hurt Rebecca." This brought a growl from the dog's chest.

Luke smiled as the two staked towards each other. Sain was playful with all his other pokemon, but fiercely protective. Did the other Manectric actually hurt his fellow party member? Of course not. Did it matter? Not at all. Now the Unovan could be confident in his pokemon not turning the battle into a play session.

Sain lost patience before Wattson's pokemon and broke forward in a sprint, electricity cracking across his fur as he gained speed. The other Manectric met him halfway in a crash of sparks as Sain bowled them over.

Luke's electric type was stronger than he was fast, and a sprinter over a distance runner. Incredibly powerful in short bursts of intense speed and strength to overwhelm an opponent. And, thankfully, durable enough to take hits and trades from the opposing electric type.

Blue and yellow sparks and fur flew every time the two canines clashed. The snap of electricity covered the sound of their bodies striking each other and filled the room. Luke was sure it was a spectacle to the audience as the sparks always seemed to refocus around Sain because of his lightning rod, that special coat that pulled electricity from his surroundings.

Luke made a mental note to never have the electric hound out in a hospital or around sensitive mechanical equipment.

Finally, Sain knocked his mirror to the floor at Wattson's feet. Luke didn't recall him as he walked forward to shake hands with the gym leader.

The Unovan accepted the badge that was offered and shook the gym leader's hand, and said, "So, do tell. Was that a good enough battle for you?"

* * *

**So, that was chapter 24. Honestly surprised we're only this far, guess there's a bit much filler already. I have a tendency to do that.**

**Again, apologies if the sequencing made it hard to get through. The 'real' reason I did it this way is because the time passed differently for each character. Brendan left and was essentially doing the same thing for the whole chapter. Tunnel focus training and being a teenager in their first relationship with May. He was focused in entirely on that. Julia was entirely focused in on her gym battle, and after she won it, on Luke's upcoming battle. Luke was a bit different from the other two: he focused on one thing at a time, but then pivoted between two other points, each of which I decided were important enough to justify diving into. First, on tracking down Brendan and May to make sure they at the very least seemed ok. Then, on battle preparations, and finally on his battle.**

**As for why Luke battled differently here than we saw in either of his other gym battles? He felt threatened by Wattson, and scared for his pokemon. That fear made him obsessive, which manifested in a manic phase of studying his opponent and attempts to theory-craft how the match would go, then in his mid-fight analysis. First time trying to write someone entering a manic phase, comment on how well you think it came across.**

**Why didn't I write out Julia's battle? It would have been boring. Deploy Marshtomp. Spam click mud shot. Kate, my friend who did the Nuzlocke run for Julia's character, really did just solo the first three gyms with Oliver. Oliver who was overleveled at this point because Chocolate died and she was scared of getting another one of her party killed.**

**Level Check!**

**LUKE:  
Rebecca: 28  
Franz: 27  
Dart: 24  
Sain: 27  
Amelia: 23  
*Matthew: 9**

** *Cut slave/utility, not on Luke's team in the story rn**

**JULIA:  
Oliver: 30  
Zatanna: 24  
Kord: 22  
Selena: 21**

**I'll be gone until I'm back again. Stay safe y'all.**


End file.
